EDMONTON -- It may be early in the season, but the desperation level will be high when the Pittsburgh Penguins face the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Friday (9 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN1, SN-PIT).
Edmonton (2-4-1) is off to a slow start after losing in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last season and being projected to be a contender again this season, while Pittsburgh (3-4-1) is looking to gain traction in its quest to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2022.
"I think that's a thing we're going to see a lot of, teams that are desperate to get their next win or being revved up to play us," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said Thursday. "There are teams when Connor McDavid comes into your building or you're playing against him, guys are on their toes and want to play their best. That's good that we're getting other team's best, it'll just make us stronger for longer."
The game will be the 14th head-to-head meeting between McDavid and Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. Edmonton has won the previous seven games after losing the first six (0-3-3) with both players in the lineup.
Both teams are in search of answers in an attempt to get their respective seasons back on track. Pittsburgh sent starting goalie Tristan Jarry home Wednesday to work on his game. Jarry had a 1-1-0 record in three starts with a 5.47 goals-against average and .836 save percentage.
"He's working with Jon Elkin, one of our goalie coaches back there," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Thursday. "He's getting some individual time and it's just part of the process that we've put in place here over the next little while to try and help Tristan get to his very best."
Joel Blomqvist is expected to get the start in goal for Pittsburgh against the Oilers. The Penguins are playing the second of a four-game Western Canada road trip. They lost 4-3 in a shootout at the Calgary Flames on Tuesday and 6-3 at the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday to start the trip. It concludes at the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
"They have a lot of high-skill players that have done that (win) for decades," Knoblauch said. "Obviously with (Evgeni) Malkin and Crosby and them getting off to a good start, along with (Erik) Karlsson and (Kris) Letang on the back end who are very dangerous on the blue line and like to get involved in the play and a lot of the offense generated starts with them, we've got a lot of challenges. Those are four guys that I mention, and they have a lot of other good players too."
Edmonton lost 3-2 in overtime against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday and 4-1 at the Dallas Stars last Saturday. The Oilers are 1-3-1 at home this season.
McDavid has eight points (three goals, five assists) in seven games this season and 27 points (nine goals, 18 assists) with a plus-15 rating in his previous 13 games against Crosby and the Penguins.
Crosby has seven points (one goal, six assists) in eight games this season and has seven points (three goals, four assists) with a minus-12 rating against McDavid and the Oilers.
Despite his recent struggles against Edmonton, Crosby still presents a difficult challenge for opponents, Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm said.
"He's kind of, before I was here you would play [McDavid], and he's kind of a measuring stick for where you're at defensively," Ekholm said. "Throughout my career I've played against some top lines and tried to shut them down. [Crosby] has always been a challenge and (I) haven't come close to succeeding, so it's always been a humbling moment. It's always been a measuring stick and a challenge that I've always been up to and he's a competitor and it's always been a lot of fun playing against him."
