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(SportsNetwork.com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins hope to use a three-game swing through Western Canada to get on track Wednesday night as they visit the Edmonton Oilers.

The Penguins are just 2-4-2 in their past eight games, but are still within arm's reach of first place in the Metropolitan Division. They trail the front- running New York Islanders by one point but also own just a two-point edge over the third-place New York Rangers and Washington Capitals.

Pittsburgh was shut out at home in its last trip to the ice, falling 4-0 to Nashville as the Predators got 21 saves from Carter Hutton.

Marc-Andre Fleury allowed all four Nashville goals on 24 shots for the Penguins.

"We made some mistakes that end up in the back of our net and then we're playing uphill from there," Penguins center Sidney Crosby said.

Pittsburgh will play five of its next six on the road and hope to get forward Evgeni Malkin back on this trip in Western Canada. He has not played since Jan. 20 due to a lower-body issue, but returned to practice on Saturday and participated again on Tuesday.

Malkin leads the Pens with 19 goals and is second to only Sidney Crosby on the team with 51 points.

Wednesday also will mark Pittsburgh forward David Perron's return to Edmonton. He had 28 goals in 78 games last season with the Oilers, his first with the club after being acquired from the St. Louis Blues, and had five goals and 19 points in 38 games with Edmonton before getting dealt to Pittsburgh on Jan. 2 for Rob Klinkhammer and a 2015 first-round pick.

The 26-year-old Perron has thrived since the trade, notching six goals and nine points in 12 games with the Pens.

Klinkhammer had a hand in Edmonton's most recent win, a 5-4 shootout over the San Jose Sharks in which the forward scored the winning tally in the 12th round of the tiebreaker.

Klinkhammer's heroics saved the Oilers after they failed to hold a 3-1 lead going into the third period. San Jose scored three times to go in front, but Justin Schultz countered with a game-tying goal with 2:37 on the clock.

Jordan Eberle had two goals and Derek Roy also lit the lamp for the Oilers, who have won four of their last six. Viktor Fasth stopped 33 shots and made another 12 saves in the shootout.

"We stuck with it and got rewarded. There were a lot of solid efforts," Edmonton coach Todd Nelson said.

Edmonton did lose forwards Taylor Hall and Benoit Pouliot to injury in the game and they are questionable for tonight. Hall aggravated a leg injury that had held him out of the previous three games, while Pouliot was hurt blocking a shot with his foot.

Hall is third on Edmonton with 30 points, while Pouliot has 11 goals and 17 points on the year.

Edmonton recalled winger Iiro Pakarinen from the American Hockey League on Tuesday and the 23-year-old has 17 goals and 28 points in 39 games with the Oklahoma City Barons.

The Oilers and Penguins split two meetings last season, with each team winning at home. Pittsburgh is 5-0-2 in the past seven meetings overall.