The Edmonton Oilers suffered a hard knockout in the opening period of the game against the San Jose Sharks. Dave Tippett’s guys couldn’t recover from it until the end, and they posted their 6th loss of the season. In the end, it was 6-3 for the hosts at Shark Tank.
For a long time, the Oilers’ players haven’t been this outplayed in every aspect of the game. They left San Jose frustrated and heavily beaten. The home team had a 4-0 lead with less than one and a half minutes into the second frame.
“I think we weren’t ready,” Leon Draisaitl said. “Obviously, they start really strong here at home, and everybody knows that. Being down 3-0 in this building, it’s always hard to come back from. We just got outplayed.”
And he was right. The Sharks did roll over the guests in those moments. Brent Burns scored the first goal beating Mike Smith from the top of the left circle. The stopwatch showed 4:01 into the event. At 7:27 it was already 2-0 with Evander Kane posting his 11th goal of the season.
The veteran Patrick Marleau, scored for 3-0 at 11:12. Legendary center just redirected Tim Heed’s point shot, for the absolute thrill at the SAP Center.
But that wasn’t enough, and the Sharks kept pounding. Shortly after the start of the second frame, the result was 4-0, as Barclay Goodrow luckily placed the puck into the net.
“I thought our line had a pretty good game and it’s nice to be able to contribute,” Goodrow said.
He would contribute but in a bit different way later. Goodrow and Oilers’ Brandon Manning got into a fight when Hertl hit Connor McDavid, bringing him down to the ice. San Jose’s player got a major penalty, but on the other side, Manning received game misconduct on top of a five-minute major.
Previously, Draisaitl scored for 4-1 with 9:57 inside the second.
Until the end of the game, we’ve seen a few more goals. Hertl raised to 5-1, 2:26 before the end of the same. Zack Kassian managed to put his own rebound behind Martin Jones for 5-2. The hosts then answered through Meier, and in the end, the final result was set by Sam Gagner, who posted his first goal of the season, with 7:42 until the end of the event.
“Whatever your record is, you don’t want to have games like this. We hold ourselves to a high standard, and games like this are not acceptable. But it’s not a game we’re going to dwell on and carry into the next game,” said Darnell Nurse.
The Oilers are still on the top of the Pacific Division and are second in the West behind the St. Louis Blues with 12-6-1. They are now traveling back home, where they have a clash with Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, and after that with the Dallas stars this Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Sharks who are 8-10-1, and have four wins in a row, travel to meet the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.
