<p>After dropping their last two games against <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/10/19/oilers-play-well-but-couldnt-beat-jake-oettinger-back-in-loss-column-with-4-1-final-in-dallas/">Dallas</a> and <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/10/23/oilers-lack-killer-instinct-cough-up-two-goal-lead-and-lose-3-2-to-the-hurricanes-in-overtime/">Carolina</a> despite quality efforts, the Oilers squared off against a Penguins team that doesn&#8217;t have much going for them right now. The good news is that the Penguins&#8217; woes continued Friday night at Rogers Place after the Oilers demolished them in nearly every facet of the game, wrapping up the night with <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/10/25/instant-reaction-oilers-dominate-the-penguins-in-4-0-thrashing/">a 4-0 shutout win</a>.</p>
<p>As I walked into Rogers Place for the game last night, the vibes were high in the building despite the lacklustre results the Oilers have had to this point in their season. Yet, with Sidney Crosby and the struggling Penguins in town, the table was set for our side to right the ship and take advantage of a team that&#8217;s been bleeding chances all season. What I didn&#8217;t expect, however, was how broken Pittsburgh actually looked in that hockey game.</p>
<p>From the moment the puck dropped to the moment the game was over, the Oilers were the better team in every possible way, and the Penguins were honestly lucky that the home side has been struggling to score so far. This could have easily been a seven or eight-goal beatdown with a little bit of luck, and the Penguins should be thanking Joel Blomqvist for keeping the score as close as it was. Yeah, there were plenty of shots to the crest that the Oilers would probably want back, but the reality is that this game wasn&#8217;t even close.</p>
<p>This game was as lopsided as it gets in the NHL, and it was definitely not what I expected for my first time seeing Crosby live. I know the Penguins are an older team at this point—Gord knows their core has played a ton of hockey over the years—but I was still surprised by how bad they looked with a handful of Hall of Famers on the roster. If I weren&#8217;t so excited about how well the Oilers played and how badly they needed <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/10/26/the-day-after-8-0-viktor-arvidsson-arrives-and-so-does-the-oilers-offence/">that win</a>, I would have almost felt bad to see the decline of what was once such a great team. Honestly, they looked pathetic.</p>
<p>More importantly, the Oilers went out and handled their business against a team they should beat more often than not. We didn&#8217;t have any of the &#8220;playing down to your competition&#8221; issues that Edmonton has struggled with at times, but rather a dominant performance by a team that looked unstoppable. If the boys can play this way more often than not, then it&#8217;s not out of the question that they will also win more often than not. I&#8217;m hopeful that last night&#8217;s game was the first step in that direction.</p>
<h2><strong>OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING&#8230;</strong></h2>
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Recapping Penguins vs. Oilers | Oilersnation After Dark -  October 25, 2024" width="1424" height="801" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MBvcEdEt5yI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<ul>
<li>While he was certainly not as busy as his counterpart at the other end, Stuart Skinner stopped all 27 shots he faced to record his 5th career shutout. Skinner didn&#8217;t have a whole lot to do through the first half of the game, but once the score effects kicked in, the Penguins started throwing a whole lot more pucks on net. Even though the win was never in doubt, Skinner had to make some huge saves down the stretch — the point-blank chance by Karlsson in the slot comes to mind — to lock in the shutout. I&#8217;m hopeful Friday&#8217;s performance is precisely what he needs to build up some confidence and keep dialling his game in.</li>
<li>Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring (1-0) with a nifty snapshot from the right circle that beat Blomqvist inside the post on the far side. It was the kind of shot that I wish Leon would take more because he&#8217;s got such a sneaky release. If our man were a little bit more selfish sometimes, he&#8217;d be scoring 55-60 goals every year.</li>
<li>Evan Bouchard extended the Oilers&#8217; lead (2-0) with a snipe from the high slot that beat Blomqvist low on the blocker side. Pittsburgh originally challenged the goal for being offside, but much to the delight of anyone cheering for the orange and blue, the Oilers had a call go their way and the goal was allowed to stand. I thought that goal was getting called back based on the lone review they showed in the arena, and I couldn&#8217;t have been happier to be wrong.</li>
<li>Ryan Nugent-Hopkins picked up his first goal of the season (3-0) after he wrestled the puck away from Kris Letang in the slot, and ripped the puck up and over the goaltender on the blocker side. It was a sneaky good goal by RNH after being pretty quiet through the first seven games, and I&#8217;m hopeful it will be enough for the dam to break.</li>
<li>Mattias Ekholm also picked up his first goal of the season (4-0) on a long range wrister that made its way through traffic and into the top corner. Ekholm&#8217;s goal was the lone marker picked up on the power play, and could be a signal for Kris Knoblauch to use the second unit a little bit more.</li>
<li>Friday&#8217;s game was Viktor Arvidsson&#8217;s best as an Oiler so far, as the winger picked up three primary assists on the goals by Draisaitl, Bouchard, and Ekholm. Furthermore, Arvidsson looked a lot more like the rat-player I detested when he was with the Kings, and I&#8217;d love nothing more than to see him start producing in a way he&#8217;s been able to historically. I&#8217;m also hoping that his wrist is okay after crashing into the boards on the dirty play by Marcus Pettersson.</li>
<li>Speaking of the dirty play by Pettersson, shout out to <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/10/25/watch-oilers-darnell-nurse-fights-penguins-marcus-pettersson-after-ugly-hit/">Darnell Nurse for the way he made the Penguins&#8217; d-man pay</a> for the dirty play on Arvidsson. Not only did Nurse square up with him immediately at the next draw, but he also tuned him with a flurry of right hands that looked mighty painful from my spot in the stands.</li>
<li>Zach Hyman must be cursed, and it&#8217;s the only conclusion I can come up with that makes any sense. Our man has had so many quality scoring chances through the first eight games that it&#8217;s truly puzzling to see him fighting it as much as he has so far. The goals will come, but man, it&#8217;s unreal how unlucky he&#8217;s been.</li>
<li>Jesse Puljujarvi didn&#8217;t score against us! Great success.</li>
<li>The shot clock was wild to watch last night. Through the first 40 minutes, the Oilers were outshooting the Penguins by a ridiculous 39-17 margin before finally wrapping up at 50-27 when the buzzer went. Absolute dominance.</li>
<li>Diving into the spreadsheets a little bit, the Oilers dominated the underlying numbers as shown by the 63.36 CF% and 68.39 xGF%. Those are very strong underlying numbers, and it&#8217;s almost amazing that Edmonton didn&#8217;t run up the score even further.</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>PRESENTED BY STAR MECHANICAL</strong></h2>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-146181" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Article-2-SME.png" alt="" width="728" height="404" srcset="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Article-2-SME.png 728w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Article-2-SME-300x166.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px" /></p>
<p>Star Mechanical is one of Edmonton’s biggest locally owned and operated plumbing and heating businesses. They have been working within the community for over 20 years, and many of the homes built in Edmonton over the last two decades have had their plumbing and heating systems installed by Star Mechanical.  Visit them at <a href="http://starmechanical.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://starmechanical.ca&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1707492487512000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2mVs3WUkp8iUCZ0kJRe9lJ">starmechanical.ca</a> to schedule an appointment and let them help keep your home running smoothly.</p>


Edmonton Oilers Darnell Nurse fights Marcus Pettersson

After dropping their last two games against <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/10/19/oilers-play-well-but-couldnt-beat-jake-oettinger-back-in-loss-column-with-4-1-final-in-dallas/">Dallas</a> and <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/10/23/oilers-lack-killer-instinct-cough-up-two-goal-lead-and-lose-3-2-to-the-hurricanes-in-overtime/">Carolina</a> despite quality efforts, the Oilers squared off against a Penguins team that doesn't have much going for them right now. The good news is that the Penguins' woes continued Friday night at Rogers Place after the Oilers demolished them in nearly every facet of the game, wrapping up the night with <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/10/25/instant-reaction-oilers-dominate-the-penguins-in-4-0-thrashing/">a 4-0 shutout win</a>.

As I walked into Rogers Place for the game last night, the vibes were high in the building despite the lacklustre results the Oilers have had to this point in their season. Yet, with Sidney Crosby and the struggling Penguins in town, the table was set for our side to right the ship and take advantage of a team that's been bleeding chances all season. What I didn't expect, however, was how broken Pittsburgh actually looked in that hockey game.

From the moment the puck dropped to the moment the game was over, the Oilers were the better team in every possible way, and the Penguins were honestly lucky that the home side has been struggling to score so far. This could have easily been a seven or eight-goal beatdown with a little bit of luck, and the Penguins should be thanking Joel Blomqvist for keeping the score as close as it was. Yeah, there were plenty of shots to the crest that the Oilers would probably want back, but the reality is that this game wasn't even close.

This game was as lopsided as it gets in the NHL, and it was definitely not what I expected for my first time seeing Crosby live. I know the Penguins are an older team at this point—Gord knows their core has played a ton of hockey over the years—but I was still surprised by how bad they looked with a handful of Hall of Famers on the roster. If I weren't so excited about how well the Oilers played and how badly they needed <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/10/26/the-day-after-8-0-viktor-arvidsson-arrives-and-so-does-the-oilers-offence/">that win</a>, I would have almost felt bad to see the decline of what was once such a great team. Honestly, they looked pathetic.

More importantly, the Oilers went out and handled their business against a team they should beat more often than not. We didn't have any of the "playing down to your competition" issues that Edmonton has struggled with at times, but rather a dominant performance by a team that looked unstoppable. If the boys can play this way more often than not, then it's not out of the question that they will also win more often than not. I'm hopeful that last night's game was the first step in that direction.
<h2><strong>OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING...</strong></h2>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBvcEdEt5yI
<ul>
 	<li>While he was certainly not as busy as his counterpart at the other end, Stuart Skinner stopped all 27 shots he faced to record his 5th career shutout. Skinner didn't have a whole lot to do through the first half of the game, but once the score effects kicked in, the Penguins started throwing a whole lot more pucks on net. Even though the win was never in doubt, Skinner had to make some huge saves down the stretch — the point-blank chance by Karlsson in the slot comes to mind — to lock in the shutout. I'm hopeful Friday's performance is precisely what he needs to build up some confidence and keep dialling his game in.</li>
 	<li>Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring (1-0) with a nifty snapshot from the right circle that beat Blomqvist inside the post on the far side. It was the kind of shot that I wish Leon would take more because he's got such a sneaky release. If our man were a little bit more selfish sometimes, he'd be scoring 55-60 goals every year.</li>
 	<li>Evan Bouchard extended the Oilers' lead (2-0) with a snipe from the high slot that beat Blomqvist low on the blocker side. Pittsburgh originally challenged the goal for being offside, but much to the delight of anyone cheering for the orange and blue, the Oilers had a call go their way and the goal was allowed to stand. I thought that goal was getting called back based on the lone review they showed in the arena, and I couldn't have been happier to be wrong.</li>
 	<li>Ryan Nugent-Hopkins picked up his first goal of the season (3-0) after he wrestled the puck away from Kris Letang in the slot, and ripped the puck up and over the goaltender on the blocker side. It was a sneaky good goal by RNH after being pretty quiet through the first seven games, and I'm hopeful it will be enough for the dam to break.</li>
 	<li>Mattias Ekholm also picked up his first goal of the season (4-0) on a long range wrister that made its way through traffic and into the top corner. Ekholm's goal was the lone marker picked up on the power play, and could be a signal for Kris Knoblauch to use the second unit a little bit more.</li>
 	<li>Friday's game was Viktor Arvidsson's best as an Oiler so far, as the winger picked up three primary assists on the goals by Draisaitl, Bouchard, and Ekholm. Furthermore, Arvidsson looked a lot more like the rat-player I detested when he was with the Kings, and I'd love nothing more than to see him start producing in a way he's been able to historically. I'm also hoping that his wrist is okay after crashing into the boards on the dirty play by Marcus Pettersson.</li>
 	<li>Speaking of the dirty play by Pettersson, shout out to <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2024/10/25/watch-oilers-darnell-nurse-fights-penguins-marcus-pettersson-after-ugly-hit/">Darnell Nurse for the way he made the Penguins' d-man pay</a> for the dirty play on Arvidsson. Not only did Nurse square up with him immediately at the next draw, but he also tuned him with a flurry of right hands that looked mighty painful from my spot in the stands.</li>
 	<li>Zach Hyman must be cursed, and it's the only conclusion I can come up with that makes any sense. Our man has had so many quality scoring chances through the first eight games that it's truly puzzling to see him fighting it as much as he has so far. The goals will come, but man, it's unreal how unlucky he's been.</li>
 	<li>Jesse Puljujarvi didn't score against us! Great success.</li>
 	<li>The shot clock was wild to watch last night. Through the first 40 minutes, the Oilers were outshooting the Penguins by a ridiculous 39-17 margin before finally wrapping up at 50-27 when the buzzer went. Absolute dominance.</li>
 	<li>Diving into the spreadsheets a little bit, the Oilers dominated the underlying numbers as shown by the 63.36 CF% and 68.39 xGF%. Those are very strong underlying numbers, and it's almost amazing that Edmonton didn't run up the score even further.</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>PRESENTED BY STAR MECHANICAL</strong></h2>
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-146181" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Article-2-SME.png" alt="" width="728" height="404" />

Star Mechanical is one of Edmonton’s biggest locally owned and operated plumbing and heating businesses. They have been working within the community for over 20 years, and many of the homes built in Edmonton over the last two decades have had their plumbing and heating systems installed by Star Mechanical.  Visit them at <a href="http://starmechanical.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://starmechanical.ca&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1707492487512000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2mVs3WUkp8iUCZ0kJRe9lJ">starmechanical.ca</a> to schedule an appointment and let them help keep your home running smoothly.

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