An early November home game against an out-of-conference team that hasn’t made the playoffs the past six years has taken on added importance for the Pittsburgh Penguins.Pittsburgh (6-5-3) not only has lost five straight games going into a date with the Arizona Coyotes (7-6-1) on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena Chris Bigras Jersey Womens , but the Penguins also have the pressure of responding to strong comments made by their general manager.Jim Rutherford, on his radio show, criticized the team’s play, wondered if things had gotten stale and indicated changes might be coming soon.Article continues below ...“He’s trying to do his job,” Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin said of Rutherford. “Our job is to be here in the locker room, support each other. Step on the ice and try to play a great game. Of course he’s not happy. Five games we lost. He sent a message. We understand he’s not happy. We all understand.”The Penguins have won the Stanley Cup twice in the past three years and are a close-knit group, so the idea of changes, such as trades, that would greatly alter the makeup of the team gets their attention.“I think we’re all motivated. I think we all understand that the expectations are high,” team captain Sidney Crosby said. “When things aren’t going right, there’s always going to be questions. As a general manager, he’s got to evaluate and identify things. He’s got to do his job Jack Johnson Jersey Womens , and we respect that and understand it as players.“But we’ve got to go out there and play and do the best we can and make it a lot easier on him. It’s a lot easier when you’re winning games. That’s up to us.”Pittsburgh is 4-0-1 in its past five games against Arizona.The Coyotes are coming off two losses in a row against the Philadelphia Flyers after a four-game winning streak. On Thursday in Philadelphia, the Coyotes blew a two-goal lead and fell 6-5 in overtime.Brad Richardson was pretty harsh in his assessment of that loss.“To me, it was pretty simple — we got brain dead in the third,” he said. “We turned pucks over. Just get pucks in deep and we would have won the game.”Coach Rick Tocchet called it “a learning lesson.”Tocchet, a former Penguins assistant coach, is in his second season with Arizona, which lost 11 in a row a year ago to start the season. That might put a two-game losing streak in perspective.The Coyotes have thrived on strong defensive play. As of Friday, they ranked second in the NHL with 2.43 goals against per game.“We implemented the defensive system I wanted — a more aggressive style than they were used to,” Tocchet told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.While penalty killing is rooted in defense, Arizona has also been opportunistic with a league-best nine short-handed goals.“That’s a lot of short-handed goals,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “It was something we talked about with our power play (Friday) is making sure that we have a heightened awareness when they’re on the ice.”Pittsburgh has allowed three short-handed goals, as many as they gave up all last season. SAN JOSE Brett Howden Jersey Womens , Calif. (AP) Joakim Ryan’s breakout game couldn’t have come at a better time for the San Jose Sharks.The 24-year-old rookie scored his first two NHL goals, including the tiebreaker with 2:27 left, and the San Jose Sharks rallied after giving up a three-goal lead to beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-4 Saturday night.Joe Pavelski also scored twice, and Tomas Hertl and Barclay Goodrow had the other goals for the Sharks, who snapped a two-game skid. Aaron Dell had 27 saves.”Forty-five games in you start to think about it a little – is it ever going to happen?” Ryan said. ”It’s definitely nice to get that first one, and getting that second was even better.”It was kind of crazy. My dad got sick before the game so he wasn’t able to make it to the game. But he’s going to meet us in Anaheim tomorrow if he feels better. But maybe he should stay home more often.”Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said the soft-spoken Ryan has shown maturity.”I was really happy for him, he shows up every day and doesn’t say much, just works hard,” DeBoer said. ”We’ve been asking our defenseman all year – all of them – to get up and play and create offense. Playing with (All-Star defenseman Brett Burns) it’s easy to just sit there and watch him go, it’s nice to see Yoke take advantage of that.”Zack Kassian had two goals, and Leon Draisaitl and Brandon Davidson also scored as Edmonton scored four consecutive goals to take a 4-3 lead early in the third period. Al Montoya finished with 24 saves.Ryan got his first career goal on a slap shot from the blue line past Montoya at 1:15 of the first period. Pavelski scored at 7:21 and Goodrow made it 3-0 at 2:30 of the second.The Oilers then scored four times in about 12 1/2 minutes to move ahead.Kassian got the Oilers started at 8:49, rebounding his own missed breakaway shot before slipping the puck past Dell. He scored again 5 1/2 minutes later on a brekaway. Draisaitl tied it with his 15th goal with just under two minutes remaining in the middle period as he recovered a loose puck in front of the goal after Dell blocked Oscar Klefbom’s slap shot Paul Carey Jersey Womens , and put it past the goalie.Davidson put the Oilers ahead at 1:21 of the third.The lead lasted less than 2 1/2 minutes as Hertl tied it with is 15th at 3:41.After Ryan put the Sharks back ahead, Pavelski added an empty-netter, his 14th goal of the season, with 1:12 left.”This game has been the story of the year,” Kassian said. ”We can’t sustain any momentum once we get it for any length of time. We’re not going to give up, but at the same time I’m not happy about clawing back and then watching the team fall back.”We were expecting to win this game. This is frustrating, it wears on you. Everyone is frustrated. We need to close games out and get those two points.”NOTES: Oilers F Blake Caggiula and D Andrej Sekera were scratches after taking pucks to the face in Friday’s game against Anaheim. … D Adam Larsson was out of Saturday’s lineup for personal reasons. . D Keegan Lowe was called up from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors on Saturday. Sharks F Joel Ward, out with a right shoulder injury he suffered crashing into the boards on Thursday, told reporters at Saturday’s practice he doesn’t believe he’ll need surgery and expressed confidence he’ll be back before the end of the season. … F Jannik Hansen, a healthy scratch the last seven games, was in the lineup for the in place of Ward on the fourth line. Hansen had an assist on Goodrow’s goal. … The Sharks are 26-9-4 against the Oilers over the last 39 meetings between the teams.UP NEXTOilers: Host Florida on Monday night.Sharks: At Anaheim on Sunday.—
