If you could encapsulate the state of two franchises into one quote, it just might be found inside this thought by Edmonton Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse, who was asked about the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“There are a lot of guys on this (Oilers) team who grew up looking up to and watching them in some huge moments,” Nurse said of the Penguins after a 4-0 Oilers win that completed a season sweep of Pittsburgh by a combined score of 10-1.
After the game, Jaromir Jagr crashed the Oilers room, another old Penguins icon that these Oilers watched each spring, between the end of winter hockey and the start of spring and summer teams.
So, let’s dig in on that, shall we?
The Oilers aren’t so young anymore, and they surely haven’t won anything yet. But they’re knocking on the door as a genuine Stanley Cup Contender today, while the Penguins are aging out in a different direction, fixing to miss the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 18 years.
Losing Jake Guentzel at the Trade Deadline for a bunch of kids and draft picks cemented the direction that GM Kyle Dubas is taking this team. It was a gut punch for players like 36-year-old Sid Crosby, Evgeni Malkin (37) and Kris Letang (36), whose journeys will more likely end in retirement before another trip to a Stanley Cup Final.
That’s big-picture stuff, however.
Small picture, a Penguins team that’s lost seven of its past eight games — dropping its last three by scores of 6-0, 5-1 and 4-0 — is just trying to figure out how to win a period, and work from there.
“You don’t have any other choice but to just muster it up,” said Pittsburgh’s Bryan Rust, after a six-shot, minus-2 day. “Nobody is happy with what’s going on, how things have been going. It doesn’t matter how hard you may think it is. You’ve just got to find a way to make that confidence for yourself. You’ve got to push it that little two, three or four extra percent to just get (motivated).”
On Sunday afternoon, the Oilers’ motivation came in the form of a regulation loss at Columbus on Thursday, and the ensuing shootout loss in Buffalo on Saturday. That left them in danger of having a sub-.500 four-game road trip — after starting in such fine fashion with that 2-1, come-from-behind, overtime win at Boston.
“We’ve played a lot of hockey here lately, which is no excuse, I know,” said Connor McDavid, who bounced back from zero points in Buffalo on Saturday to a goal and two assists 24 hours later. “But six games in nine days, travel coast to coast. It’s been a grind here.
“We’ll take the two points here. We’ll take five of eight points on the road trip, take a little rest at home and get ready to go.”
Edmonton closed out a 2-1-1 trip with three goals by defencemen — Nurse had two, Mattias Ekholm one — and got a 40-save shutout from Calvin Pickard, the journeyman backup who came within a few minutes of shutting out the Penguins in Edmonton a week ago.
Here’s an oddity: It’s the first time in franchise history that the Oilers have shut out the Penguins. Also, with Pickard spending the last 1:16 of the second period in concussion protocol, Stuart Skinner (who never faced a shot) and he combine for the first shared shutout in Oilers history since Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog put one together against the Quebec Nordiques back in January of 1985.
“(Pickard) is a guy who brings so much for our group each and every day,” Nurse began. “Whether it’s his work ethic, his positive attitude — and whenever he’s in there playing the game he’s kickin’. Making big saves and giving us a chance every time he’s in there.”
Pickard has been so much better than the Oilers could ever have dreamed, signed as a minor league veteran to be used only in case of emergency. But when Jack Campbell’s game imploded, Pickard — a self-described journeyman who has worked his way through six NHL organizations since being chosen 49th overall in the 2010 draft — has delivered backup goaltending of the finest calibre.
He’s 9-4, with a shutout, a .919 saves percentage and a 2.27 goals against average. The fact that Pickard can take more games down a busy stretch run is a tonic for a team with a young starter in Skinner, who they’ll want to be as rested as possible when the playoff chase begins.
There isn’t a building this team goes into on the road where Pickard doesn’t have a former teammate or coach who wants to catch up with him.
“I’ve played on a lot of teams, both in the NHL and the American League. So we cross paths with a lot of people,” he chuckled. “I take pride in being a team-first guy, and playing for a lot of teams helps. This game has been good to me, and there are a lot of good people I’ve met along the way.”
OIL SPILLS — Leon Draisaitl is playing in his 701st career game this afternoon, tying Craig MacTavish for the ninth most games played in franchise history … Evan Bouchard picked up his 61st point of the season with his 46th assist. He is now just two points from tying Risto Siltanen for the seventh most points by an Oilers defenceman in a single season … Ryan McLeod played career game No. 200. No shots, no points.