PREVIEW: Oilers at Penguins

The Edmonton Oilers look to make it five straight victories on Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Penguins

PITTSBURGH, PA – Steel City, here we come.

The Edmonton Oilers will continue their four-game road trip on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena against the Pittsburgh Penguins, aiming to continue their red-hot form after winning their fourth straight on Tuesday with a complete team victory in Beantown headlined by Stuart Skinner's unofficial 26-save shutout.

Edmonton has won four in a row and is looking to tie their season-high win streak of five that they set in December, while Pittsburgh has dropped four straight and their last five meetings against the Oilers, getting outscored 37-9 in the process.

The Oilers dominated the Bruins in a 4-0 rout at TD Garden on Tuesday to win their fifteenth game in their last nineteen matchups (15-3-1).

Despite Stuart Skinner exiting the game during the first period due to concussion protocol after Nikita Zadorov collided with him in the crease, the netminder remained sharp upon his return for the start of the middle frame, making 22 more saves over the final two periods to blank Boston despite not getting credit for the shutout.

"Honestly, you kind of think about it even when you're doing the concussion protocol," Skinner said. "You're kind of thinking, 'If I go back out there, I've had a lot of time to sit on it, and I gotta go back and bring my game.' Especially in the NHL, if you take a second off, it can really hurt you. So I think I proved to myself that in situations like that, which I'm guessing is going to happen again at some point in my career, I can come back in and do my job."

The netminder stoned Pavel Zacha on a short-handed breakaway nine minutes into the period, turning a dangerous chance for the Bruins into a breakaway at the other end for Connor McDavid, who scored his 16th goal of the season to make it 2-0 for the Oilers.

"If he doesn't make that save, it's probably a completely different game," Knoblauch said. "But he makes that save, we score, and then we were able to cruise through the game."

Jeff Skinner posted an assist to extend his point streak to three games as he works to get back on track from an underwhelming start to his season. His linemate Adam Henrique scored two goals to secure his first multi-point game since Dec. 5 against Columbus and his first multi-goal game as an Oiler, with the offence being a nice extra bonus for a player who's become an important defensive piece for this team since arriving before last year's Trade Deadline.

"It seems impossible sometimes, but it's nice to get on the board and certainly helps with the confidence," Henrique said. "But it's about the overall game and making sure that I'm solid in all situations as well."

Upon returning to the Oilers locker room, chants of 'Rico! Rico! Rico!' were rained down on him, giving the 34-year-old another big boost of confidence after scoring his first goal since Dec. 22 against the Ottawa Senators at Rogers Place. Henrique will try to continue rolling on the road in Pittsburgh, as the last time he recorded a point away from home before Tuesday's win was against Colorado on Nov. 30. His last road goal came in Toronto on Nov. 16.

"A good game from everybody. We were solid throughout from start to finish and top to bottom," Henrique said. "I was fortunate to get to get the two goals, but Nuggy and Davo made a great play on the power play, and Stu took the hit and made big saves at key times, so a lot that went right tonight."

The Oilers have sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division with a 25-12-3 record, six points back of the Vegas Golden Knights, who are the only team in the NHL to match Edmonton's incredible pace over their last 19 games (16-3-1 since Nov. 22).

Despite such a complete performance from his team on Tuesday, Head Coach Kris Knoblauch doesn't want the Oilers to get complacent.

"There are teams that we want to pass, there are teams that are playing better than us and ahead of us in the standings, and there are teams that want to catch us," he said. "If we're not getting better every day, we're gonna get passed, and we're not gonna be able to catch those other teams that we feel that we can.

"We're obviously happy with our game this last month or so. We've been winning some games, but it's far from perfect. We need stuff to work on."

The Penguins find themselves in a battle for the last Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, sitting level on points with Columbus with one extra game played and one fewer win than their inter-divisional rival in the Jackets, who defeated them 3-2 in the shootout on Tuesday in the first game of their four-game homestand for Pittsburgh.

Despite losing four games in a row, the Penguins have forced overtime in all but one of those matches.

At 37 years old, Crosby has 44 points in 42 games this season and is on pace for 85 points this season, which would give the ageless centre the NHL record for the most point-per-game seasons with 20 (above Wayne Gretzky at 19) if he's able to accomplish the feat.

Crosby is a three-time Stanley Cup champion, a two-time Art Ross Trophy winner, a two-time Conn Smythe Trophy winner and a two-time Maurice Richard Trophy, and is someone Connor McDavid has looked up to his entire life.

“I think every player has that one guy that they are looking forward to playing, and Sid was that for me,” McDavid said back in 2021.

Since the start of the 2005-06 season, Crosby and McDavid have combined to win 36.8 percent of all Art Ross Trophies and Ted Lindsay Awards (7-of-19).

McDavid has dominated Crosby head-to-head with eight wins, along with nine goals and 18 assists in 14 total meetings between the two generational players. Both will be teammates on Team Canada at the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off in February.

As an equally highly-touted player, Connor McDavid wanted to be like Crosby in every way.

“I loved the game and wanted to be the first-overall pick and do all the types of things that he was doing,” McDavid said. “He’s got Stanley Cups and gold medals… It is everything you ever want to do as a player.”