Power Outage, Penguins Dominate and Lose: Report Card vs. Edmonton

The Pittsburgh Penguins managed to snap 52 shots at Edmonton Oilers goalie Mike Smith. The Penguins controlled the puck in all three zones and made Edmonton chase them. There wasn’t a great tactical wrinkle that reinvented hockey, or superhuman performances which carried the Penguins. Nope. The Pittsburgh Penguins again looked like a complete, gritty and honest team that played well in all three phases.

They just didn’t put the puck in the net and lost to the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 at PPG Paints Arena. The Penguins outchanced Edmonton 26-14, outshot them 52-28, and every Penguins line had a positive Corsi and scoring chance ratio. Yet defenseman Brian Dumoulin was the only Penguin to score, and he did so shorthandedly late in the third period.

Minor details, right?

“I think it’s encouraging. We played a heck of a game out there. We should be proud of our effort,” Penguins goalie Matt Murray said. “I think (Mike) Smith stole one for them, had an unbelievable game, and if not for him I think we deserved a little better.”

Deserve is of course subjective. However, the Penguins had eight players with four or more shots but there were a couple of soft spots that prevented the Penguins from coasting to a win.

*The free preview of PHN+ is over. We hope you’ll subscribe. Join us for the full year of content–we’re 365, 24/7, with the most and most in-depth hockey coverage of any outlet in Pittsburgh. Join us here and support the little engine that could.