Penguins Blow Away Oilers (and Jarry), 6-2

I’ll be honest. Prior to last night’s contest with the Oilers, I’d all but chalked it up as a loss. After all, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl & Co. had pretty much owned us in recent years, including a 6-4 whuppin’ doled out at PPG Paints Arena back on December 16.

Plus, we were playing the second of back-to-backers, on the road no less, and third game in four nights.

The Penguins obviously had other ideas. Like taking it to the back-to-back Cup finalists, and in their own barn to boot.

Anthony Mantha staked us to a 2-0 lead before the game was three minutes old with a pair of goals 22 seconds apart. Fifteen seconds later, Sidney Crosby beat Tristan Jarry on a deflection to make it 3-zip.

Three goals on three-straight shots against our old friend.

The Pens never looked back and the Oilers never recovered.

That’s not to say they didn’t provide some pushback. They outshot us by a 32-22 margin. At times the game resembled a track meet, with the clubs exchanging end-to-end rushes in a thrilling case of fire wagon hockey.

When Oilers d-man Jake Walman struck shorthanded just 5:19 into the second period to make it 3-1, I thought uh oh, here they come.

But the Pens snatched control back later in the frame on goals by Rickard Rakell (12:29) and Evgeni Malkin (14:27). Egor Chinakhov provided the final exclamation point at 2:50 of the third period, courtesy of a pretty play and setup from Tommy Novak. With a snap of the wrists, Egor went top-shelf, far-iron-in to cap the destruction, a late consolation goal by Matt Savoie to make the final tally 6-2 aside.

Puckpourri

My goodness, are the Pens emerging as a team. When fully healthy or close to it, we don’t seem to have any glaring holes, and I’m including the defense. A largely no-name bunch aside from Erik Karlsson (who played) and Kris Letang (who didn’t), they’ve morphed into a really solid group where the whole represents more than the sum of the parts.

That includes hard-nosed Connor Clifton and Jack St. Ivany, who recovered from a recent healthy scratch (not to mention a shot off the calf) to register his second two-point game in a row.

In addition to Mantha’s two-goal night, Malkin had a goal and a helper and Justin Brazeau two assists. All told, a dozen black-and-gold skaters registered at least one point, the mark of a good team.

Speaking of Mantha, if I had my druthers, I’d rather sign him than trade him. Probably the wrong approach, but he’s been productive and adds a power element that I love. Seems like a super-good guy and a good fit with his teammates.

I’ve been critical of Arturs Silovs, especially over his shootout struggles, but give the kid credit. He stopped 30 of 32 shots against a high-powered Oilers squad, no easy feat. Embedded in his last four starts are save percentages of .938, .968 and .920. Not too shabby.

At the far end of the rink, Jarry got lit up by his ex-mates. I was discussing him with a hockey pal and we agreed that when Tristan’s on, he’s brilliant. When he’s not?

The highs and lows in his game are glaring.

With our victory, the Pens (25-14-11, 61 points) tightened their grip on second place in the Metro. We’ve opened up a six-point bulge over fourth-place Philly. With the lower echelon of the division, including the Caps, fumblin’, bumblin’, stumblin’ to quote ESPN legend Chris Berman, a second-place finish suddenly looks very achievable.

We have two glorious days off before visiting Jimmy Rutherford’s sagging, sad-sack Canucks on Sunday.

Is it just me, or is this team starting to take on a 2016 vibe? Just a masterful construction job by Kyle Dubas.