The San Jose Sharks ended a five-game losing streak with a 5-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers at SAP Center on Saturday. Shakir Mukhamadullin scored the decisive goal at 9:27 in the third period, assisted by William Eklund. Mukhamadullin described his goal, saying, “Just go into the zone, and [Eklund] gave it to me. I’m just shooting to hit the net and I scored.”
Michael Misa contributed a goal and an assist for San Jose, while Macklin Celebrini also found the net. Yaroslav Askarov made 20 saves for the Sharks, who had gone 0-4-1 during their recent slump.
San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky commented on his team’s performance: “I thought we did some really good things. Like our first. Did some good things in the second. Obviously, they’re a good team, and they’re going to push, and they did that in the third period of the game. Obviously, [it] opened up a little bit too much of our liking, but we found a way to win a hockey game.”
For Edmonton, Evan Bouchard tallied one goal and two assists, Connor McDavid recorded three assists, and Leon Draisaitl added a goal. Goalie Connor Ingram stopped 28 shots for the Oilers, who have now lost five of their last six games.
Reflecting on his team’s performance after an earlier big win against Los Angeles, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said: “You have a game like we did in LA and you feel really good about yourself and think you’re going to be able to do it again. Think you have everything figured out. I think the first 10 minutes, they were the better team. Just too much too late.”
Celebrini opened scoring for San Jose midway through the first period when he capitalized on an empty net after Ingram left his crease to retrieve his stick. Celebrini said about his quick shot: “Probably get it off as fast as possible. I saw [Dmitry Orlov] out of the corner of my eye. I thought he was over, but when you look back at it, it was closer than I thought.”
Misa extended San Jose’s lead with a power-play goal before Draisaitl put Edmonton on the board with a power-play tally of his own later in the period.
Draisaitl commented on Edmonton’s defensive struggles: “It is everyone for sure. I think everyone is making the wrong reads right now, maybe a little bit fragile on our decision-making,” he said. “Got to find a way to fix it.”
Barclay Goodrow added another for San Jose late in the first period before Bouchard narrowed Edmonton’s deficit in the second frame.
Trent Frederic tied things up early in the third period before Alexander Wennberg restored San Jose’s lead minutes later with help from Philipp Kurashev.
Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse reflected on leadership within his team: “It starts with us, starts with the leaders, then goes from there,” Nurse said. “Throughout the lineup, there are some guys who stepped up and made some really good plays tonight.”
Jake Walman drew Edmonton even once more before Mukhamadullin’s winner secured victory for San Jose.
In other notes from Saturday’s contest:
– Askarov earned his 18th win this season and now shares top spot among rookie goaltenders.
– The Sharks’ teenagers have combined for 102 points this season; only five teams in NHL history have exceeded 100 points from teenage players over an entire season.
– McDavid recorded his 60th career three-assist game; only Wayne Gretzky (352 games), Mario Lemieux (507), and Bobby Orr (634) reached that mark faster than McDavid’s current pace through 773 games.
