Pens endure scare from Edmonton but edge out win

Pens endure scare from  Edmonton but edge out win

The Penguins managed to avoid a four goal come back from the Edmonton Oilers to edge out a 6-4 win. The Penguins raced to a 3-0 lead in the first period led by a short-handed Brandon Sutter goal, depicted in the above image. Sutter added his second of the game after a lucky rebound off a point shot. Crosby added a bit of flair to the game with his pass to Perron for the third and final goal in the frame.

The Penguins had a couple of power-play opportunities, but the issues still remain. They struggled to generate offense against one of the bottom teams in the league and that is a worry, Crosby managed to score early in the second on the man advantage, but overall the power-play was hugely worrying. It then went south quickly. The Oilers changed goalie from Scrivens to Bachman and it seemed to start a fight-back starting with a power-play goal of their own and an Even strength finish by Eberle to cut the lead to two going into the final period.

The Oilers had momentum and carried it into the third period and by the mid-point of the period they had tied it up with another power-play goal from Pouliot and an extra tally from Derek Roy. At this point the Oilers were the more likely to win but the Penguins pushed back and closed the game out with two goals in 1:06 period with goals from Downie and Hornqvist. Going into this game the Penguins had struggled recently with a lack of depth scoring so to have three goals from players in their bottom six is good to see and something needed in the play-offs if you are to go far.

The most impressive player for the Penguins was no doubt Brandon Sutter who was superb on the penalty kill and seemed to have a renewed vigour about his game today. Crosby looked quick and it was evident that he was shooting more. Whether this was because of the quality of the opposition or the ability to do so just presented itself more is unclear. At the close of this game Crosby closed within two points on Tavares and he also has two games in hand. The scoring race is going to go the whole way I think. With a back-to-back for the Penguins this weekend though against the  Bruins and Red Wings he could end the weekend in the lead. Lets hope he does.