Game Recap: Oilers 9, Sharks 2

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid became the fourth player in NHL history to get at least 100 assists in a season, and the Edmonton Oilers cruised to a 9-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place on Monday.

McDavid, who also scored in his return from a lower-body injury (missed three games), joined Wayne Gretzky (11 times), Mario Lemieux (1988-89) and Bobby Orr (1970-71) as the only players to reach the mark.

“It means a lot. Those three are obviously three of the greatest players to ever play,” McDavid said. “To share a little something with them, it means a lot to me. I’m thankful for my teammates, the staff here in Edmonton, the coaches and everybody.

“I feel very grateful for our staff here in Edmonton and all of the players here. It has been a different type of year, but everybody stuck with it and we’ve put ourselves in a good spot heading into when it matters most.”

Warren Foegele scored two goals, Adam Henrique and Dylan Holloway each had a goal and two assists, and Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard and Corey Perry each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers (49-25-6), who had lost two straight (0-1-1). Stuart Skinner made 19 saves, and Darnell Nurse had three assists.

Edmonton moved three points behind the Vancouver Canucks for first place in the Pacific Division. Each team has two games remaining.

“It is probably the hardest one that he has accomplished,” Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said of McDavid's 100 assists. “You can’t really be surprised with the things he does every year. It is an amazing accomplishment.

“You probably didn’t think it was possible for it to happen in this day and age, but he keeps surprising you. I am very proud of him.”

Danil Gushchin and Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks (19-53-9), who have lost four of five (1-3-1). Devin Cooley allowed eight goals on 22 shots before being replaced by Georgi Romanov, who made 16 saves in his NHL debut.

“I wanted to avoid putting Georgi in as much as I could, but at some point in time you’ve got to call off the dogs and take out 'Cools' and put Georgi in,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “He did a good job.

“Listen, that’s as good a team as there is offensively in the League, and he did a good job under tough circumstances.”

McDavid scored 53 seconds into the game to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead. His pass for Hyman on a rush deflected in off the skate of Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

Henrique made it 2-0 at 4:01, scoring from in front after Brett Kulak's shot was blocked by Vlasic.

Foegele pushed it to 3-0 at 10:40. He elected to shoot on a 2-on-1 and beat Cooley five-hole from the left circle.

Holloway made it 4-0 at 19:35 of the first, redirecting a centering pass from Henrique five-hole from in front.

“I just thought we played like we didn’t want it. We were sitting back, we weren’t playing on our toes, and that obviously hurt us,” Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said. “We maybe looked at the lineup at the other end and played scared in the first period, and obviously it was a snowball effect.”

Gushchin cut it to 4-1 at 1:58 of the second period when his soft backhand shot from a sharp angle deflected in off the left pad of Skinner.

Foegele scored his second of the game to make it 5-1 at 4:41, diving to swat in a rebound that had got behind Cooley.

Perry tapped in a backdoor pass from Bouchard to extend it to 6-1 at 10:11, and Cody Ceci tapped in a backdoor pass from Henrique to make it 7-1 at 13:18.

Bouchard scored 31 seconds later off a backdoor pass from Perry on a 2-on-1 to make it 8-1.

Hyman then capitalized on another 2-on-1 at 15:35 by tapping in a backdoor pass from McDavid to make it 9-1.

“Obviously, we didn’t help [Cooley] out at all with the odd-mans, how many looks he was getting the way that we started the game,” Sharks forward Luke Kunin said. “You try to say a few things to him.

“Obviously, he’s a competitive guy as well, and it wasn’t his fault by any means.”

Zetterlund scored on a rebound at the right post at 15:29 of the third period for the 9-2 final.

"You've got a team that's struggling this year, at the end they don't have a lot of push, and I thought we played a good game, but it's not a game against a first-round matchup, whether it's Vegas, L.A., or whoever that might be," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. "Yes, I thought we played really well, but we're playing against a team that's not making the playoffs, and we don't want any false hope."

NOTES: Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl had two assists. ... It was Holloway's first three-point NHL game. ... Oilers forward Evander Kane did not play because of an undisclosed injury. ... Sharks forward Mikael Granlund had an assist to extend his point streak to 12 games (two goals, 12 assists).