The Pittsburgh Penguins were on the precipice of their first win against a team currently in playoff position on Tuesday night as they led the Calgary Flames 3-2 after Noel Acciari’s goal at 13:40 of the third period. However, the Penguins couldn’t let that happen and spent the next five-and-a-half minutes merely trying to hang in there instead of pushing the Flames back. Inevitably Nazem Kadri would find the game-tying goal with 43 seconds left in regulation, then Calgary would find the game-winner in the shootout. Hooray for Pittsburgh for snagging their first point of the season against a playoff team, but boo for them not shutting the door on the Flames and dealing them their first regulation loss of the season. If there is any silver lining to be found, it is that they were able to get a lot of shot volume on Dustin Wolf, but Calgary has a very bend-but-don’t-break system and they did just enough in the offensive end to stick around and end up with the win. For the Penguins to come away with two points might have been a nice confidence boost but, alas, it was not meant to be.

After a couple days off, there’s two big games on the schedule now for Pittsburgh as they face the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks back-to-back over the next two nights to close out this trip in Western Canada. Edmonton is off to another slow start: whereas last season they had just one win in their first seven games, this year they have a whopping two! But last year’s Oilers turned things around eventually and in a big way, including winning 24 out of 27 games between November 24 and January 27.

They ended up in the Stanley Cup Finals where they were nearly swept, then nearly reverse swept, and were ultimately felled in seven games by the Florida Panthers. So far the issue for Edmonton this year has been that dastardly villain puck luck: while they are near the top of the League in terms of shot volume and quality and coincidentally fairly stingy defensively, their shooting percentage is the worst in the NHL and their save percentage is second-worst. It’s been nearly a carbon copy of their start last season so, as Alfred P. Newman would say, “What, me worry?”

The Canucks are off to a modestly successful start with a 3-1-2 record, and are back home from a road trip with a three-game winning streak to their names. It hasn’t been a particularly difficult start for Vancouver with two games against Philadelphia and one each against the likes of Chicago but also Calgary, Tampa Bay, and their biggest coup of the season thus far was a 3-2 overtime win against Florida that set off their current streak.

Their modest success thus far has come at the behest of modest fortune: they’ve taken and allowed 172 shots each, seventh-fewest for both categories, and their shooting and save percentages are each 1% above League average. They’ve been getting good depth scoring, and even though starting goaltender Thatcher Demko has been out to start the season, and his backup Arturs Silovs hasn’t been great in his two starts, it’s been relative unknown Kevin Lankinen who’s been impressing in net with a .941 save percentage and a 1.70 goals against average. They’re a good team across the board, and will provide plenty of challenge for the Penguins.

Everyone is wondering what is the story with Sidney Crosby. I don’t think it’s a physical problem. He’s second to Evgeni Malkin for the team lead in points, and he’s tied for the team lead (with Anthony Beauvillier) in shot attempts and shots on goal, but he’s also not shooting the puck well as he’s missed the net more than anyone else on the team. He’s also got a lot of giveaways, but his faceoff success rate has gone up to 57.7%, which is more in line with how he did last season. Personally I find that he’s struggling mentally as he doesn’t have reliable wingers right now and he feels like the production responsibility is entirely on his shoulders. Beauvillier was dumped down to the bottom six (and rightfully so) but Drew O’Connor is not that guy either; indeed, neither is a valid replacement for Jake Guentzel. Likewise, Bryan Rust was injured for the first two games of the season and he is still struggling to produce.

As with the goaltending situation, I think head coach Mike Sullivan is hoping and waiting for someone to distinguish themselves, build some chemistry, and hit onto a run of good form alongside Sid and maybe that will light a fire for the captain. Otherwise, it doesn’t strike me that he’s hurt physically, but he’s definitely struggling mentally without someone of consistent, genuine quality on his wing to carry the burden of a first liner.