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Oilers open season against visiting Penguins

Oct 9, 2011 - 3:48 PM (Sports Network) - The rebuilding Edmonton Oilers will kick off a new season on home ice tonight, as they welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins for a clash at Rexall Place.

It's been five years since the Oilers shocked the hockey world by making a run to the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals. However, since losing in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes that year, the Oilers haven't even been back to the playoffs. In fact, Edmonton has had the worst record in the league in each of the past two years and hasn't finished higher than 19th in the NHL standings since '06.

Of course, this awful stretch has resulted in loads of high draft picks for Edmonton and the Oilers can only hope the current rebuilding project bears fruit sometime in the near future.

The return of Ryan Smyth to the Oilers will give nostalgic fans something to cheer about and maybe the 35-year-old winger can impart some valuable wisdom on Edmonton's younger players. The 2011-12 campaign projects as yet another brutal year for hockey in Edmonton, but with the bar set so low after consecutive 62-point seasons, perhaps the Oilers can exceed expectations.

Leading the charge in Edmonton's youth movement are the last two No. 1 overall picks in the NHL draft -- Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Hall played in 62 games as a rookie last year and Nugent-Hopkins is set to make his NHL debut tonight.

Hall hopes to improve on a strong rookie season that saw him notch 22 goals and 20 assists over 65 games. Hall, who will turn 20 in November, had his first season cut short in early-May after suffering a high ankle sprain in a fight. Nugent-Hopkins, an 18-year-old centerman, is coming off a terrific season for Red Deer of the WHL, recording 31 goals and a league-high 75 assists in 69 games.

Meanwhile, Smyth last played with the Oilers during the 2006-07 season before he was traded that year to the New York Islanders. Known for his ability to play in the tough areas around the crease, Smyth recorded 23 goals and 24 points last year while playing in all 82 games for the LA Kings. Originally drafted by Edmonton in the sixth round of the 1994 draft, Smyth has recorded 355 goals over 1,069 games during his stellar NHL career.

The Oilers have not stockpiled the same type of young talent on defense as they have up front and it showed last year when the club finished 28th in the league in goals surrendered per game (3.17).

Edmonton also thought they had taken care of the goaltending situation when it signed Nikolai Khabibulin to a four-year, $15 million deal in the summer of 2009, but to say the move hasn't panned out would be an understatement.

Khabibulin played in just 18 games during an injury-plagued 2009-10 and went 10-32-3 with a dismal 3.39 goals-against average in 46 contests last year. There have also been off-the-ice issues for "The Bulin Wall", as the 38-year- old Russian was arrested for DUI in February 2010 and served his 30-day sentence for that offense this summer.

The Oilers are expected to let Khabibulin and Devan Dubnyk fight over the starting job this year. Dubnyk, 25, fared better than Khabibulin in 2010-11, posting a 12-13-8 record to go with a 2.71 GAA and .916 save percentage.

It's unclear who will get the start in net for the Oilers tonight.

The Penguins are off to a 2-0 start to the season and will complete a season- opening, three-game road trip tonight. Pittsburgh, which is still without Sidney Crosby due to post-concussion symptoms, began the year with a shootout victory in Vancouver and the club posted a 5-3 decision Saturday in Calgary.

Helped by a four-goal second period, the Penguins hung on to defeat Calgary in the home opener for the Flames. Tyler Kennedy, Matt Niskanen, Craig Adams, Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin netted the five goals for the Penguins.

"We really put them back on their heels: physically, speed-wise, and playing in their end and getting shots on net," Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma said of the second period.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 16-of-19 shots for the win.

After wrapping this western swing, Pittsburgh will head back to the Steel City for a three-game homestand. The Pens will begin that residency with Tuesday's home opener against Florida.

The Penguins have taken four straight against the Oilers overall and Pittsburgh has also won two in a row and four of its last five in Edmonton.