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After offensive explosion, Penguins host Oilers

Nov 6, 2008 - 11:24 AM Edmonton (6-5-1) at Pittsburgh (6-4-2) 7:00 p.m. EST

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- After a long layoff, the Pittsburgh Penguins are hoping to pick up where they left off.

The Penguins return home on Thursday to face the Edmonton Oilers following their biggest offensive outburst of the young season.

Pittsburgh struggled to score early on, netting only 25 goals in its first 11 games after finishing seventh in the NHL last season with an average of 2.93 goals per game.

The Penguins' woes were obvious during their recent four-game road trip as they managed four goals en route to a 0-2-1 start. But Pittsburgh responded emphatically against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, closing the trek with a 6-3 victory in which six different players scored.

It was the first time this season the Penguins eclipsed the four-goal mark in a contest.

"It's big," said captain Sidney Crosby, who had two assists against the Blues despite being questionable after suffering an undisclosed injury against the Phoenix Coyotes on October 30. "You want to make sure your confidence level is there, and I think we had it."

The Penguins look to build on that momentum against the road-weary Oilers, who have played nine of their 12 games this campaign away from home and are 2-2-0 on their current season-high seven game road trip.

Edmonton rallied from a 2-0 deficit against Columbus on Wednesday with four straight goals but yielded the final three of the contest, including Manny Malhotra's winner with 69 seconds remaining in the third period.

Ales Hemsky has been remarkable for the Oilers on the road, extending his points streak away from home to six games with a goal on Wednesday. The right wing has notched at least one point in eight of Edmonton's nine road contests this season and trails Boston's Marc Savard (12) by one for the league lead in road scoring.