EDMONTON 鈥� It was touted as a superstar showdown, but neither Connor McDavid nor Sidney Crosby could find the scoresheet in the Edmonton Oilers鈥� clash against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
Instead, Stuart Skinner made 27 saves for his fifth career shutout, and Viktor Arvidsson had a standout performance with three assists 鈥� his first points as an Oiler 鈥� as Edmonton snapped a two-game losing skid with a 4-0 victory over the Penguins.
鈥淲e played on both sides of the puck really good today for 60 minutes,鈥� Arvidsson said. 鈥淚 think that was a great statement game. I think that is how we have to play and how we are going to be good.鈥�
Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm, who was a teammate of Arvidsson鈥檚 in Nashville, said it was great to see him finally get some points.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the Viktor I know,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e is always the hardest working (guy) out there, he鈥檒l beat you out for icing and is a pain in the ass to play against. I thought he had a really big night.
鈥淗e is getting more and more comfortable every night that he gets to play here and get chemistry with his linemates and I think tonight he showed what he can really do. Kudos to him, he really played a solid night.鈥�
Ekholm and Evan Bouchard each had a goal and an assist.
鈥淚 thought just all around, start to finish we just played a really solid game,鈥� Skinner said. 鈥淚t started with the D-zone obviously, and from there we were able to capitalize on some offence. And that鈥檚 normally how it starts for us, when we are solid in the D-zone we get a lot of chances. In the first period, I had five shots and everything was from the outside, so just an amazing team effort.鈥�
Despite the loss, Joel Blomqvist was very strong in net for the Penguins, making 46 stops.
鈥淗e continued to battle, he saw some really good looks, odd-man rushes and I thought he hung in there kept competing,鈥� Crosby said. 鈥淭hey have some dangerous shooters and he did a great job hanging in there for us.鈥�
Blomqvist was playing in just his fifth NHL game,
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2024.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press
