After losing his last two matches against Dallas And Caroline despite quality efforts, the Oilers are facing a Penguins team that doesn’t have much to offer at the moment. The good news is that the Penguins’ woes continued Friday night at Rogers Place after the Oilers demolished them in almost every facet of the game, ending the night with a 4-0 shutout victory.

As I walked into Rogers Place for the game last night, the mood was strong in the building despite the lackluster results the Oilers have had thus far in their season. Yet with Sidney Crosby and the struggling Penguins in town, the stage was set for our team to right the ship and take advantage of a team that has wasted chances all season. What I didn’t expect, however, was how broken Pittsburgh looked in this hockey game.

From the moment the puck dropped until the end of the game, the Oilers were the better team in every way, and the Penguins were honestly lucky that the home team struggled to score until ‘now. This could easily have been a seven or eight goal loss with any luck, and the Penguins should thank Joel Blomqvist for keeping the score as close as it was. Yes, there were plenty of shots towards the ridge that the Oilers would probably want back, but the reality is that this game wasn’t even close.

This game was as lopsided as it gets in the NHL, and it certainly wasn’t what I expected when I first saw Crosby live. I know the Penguins are an older team at this point – Gord knows their core has played a lot of hockey over the years – but I was still surprised at how bad they looked with a handful of Hall of Famers on the list. If I wasn’t so excited about how well the Oilers played and how badly they needed who winsI almost would have had a hard time seeing what was once such a great team decline. Honestly, they looked pathetic.

More importantly, the Oilers came out and handled their business against a team they should beat more often than not. We had none of the “playing down the competition” issues that Edmonton has struggled with at times, but rather a dominant performance from a team that seemed unstoppable. If boys can play this way most often, it cannot be ruled out that they also win most often. I hope last night’s game was the first step in that direction.

OTHER THINGS TO MENTION…