Pluses, minuses for Penguins-Oilers

NHL Network and ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes will offer his pluses and minuses for big games each week throughout the season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; TNT, SN, SN360, SN1, TVAS, NHL LIVE) in a matchup of two of the League's hottest teams.
Pittsburgh (10-7-5) has points in six of its past seven games (5-1-1), while Edmonton (15-5-0) hasn't lost two straight all season.
Here's my breakdown of the game.

Penguins

Pluses: Tristan Jarry is having an amazing year. He is 10-4-4 with a 1.85 goals-against average, .938 save percentage and three shutouts in 18 games and looks as good or better than he did two seasons ago when he played in the NHL All-Star Game in St. Louis. Andy Chiodo, who was named Penguins goalie coach in August, has done a great job with Jarry.
Jake Guentzel scored in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames on Monday and the forward has scored 11 points (six goals, five assists) in a 10-game point streak. They've needed that from him with Sidney Crosby having been limited this season because of injury and COVID-19 and
Evgeni Malkin
having yet to play following knee surgery.
Minuses: Malkin skated with the Penguins for the first time Monday while recovering from surgery. It's unclear when he'll be ready to return and the Penguins have missed his offense. Even though they've managed to stay afloat in the standings without him, getting Malkin back will be huge. In addition, forward Bryan Rust is week to week with a lower-body injury.

Oilers

Pluses: Obviously we must start with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl who are two of the best players in the world and playing like it. Draisaitl leads the League in goals (20) and points (40) and McDavid is third in points (36). But let's talk about the goaltending. Mike Smith was excellent last season but has been limited to three games this season because of injuries. No problem, as Mikko Koskinen (11-2-0, 2.89 GAA, .912 save percentage) and Stuart Skinner (2.44 GAA, .928 save percentage) have stepped up.
The Oilers' special teams have been great. They rank first in power-play percentage (37.7 percent) and tied for fourth in penalty-killing percentage (87.1 percent). It has been a continuation from last season when they were first on the power play (27.6 percent) and ninth on the penalty kill (82.5 percent). Special teams can win you games and it certainly has for them this season.
Minuses: They still need production from their bottom six. Draisaitl, McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman and Jesse Puljujarvi have provided most of the offense. No other forward has more than nine points (
Zack Kassian
) or four goals (Kassian, Kailer Yamamoto).

THREE THINGS TO WATCH

1. Do Oilers get offense from bottom six?
   2. How does Jarry fare against McDavid, Draisaitl?
   3. Can Penguins stop Oilers power play?