GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Sharks 1

SAN JOSE, CA - Five separate skaters had multi-point performances for the Edmonton Oilers as they were able to earn their seventh straight victory with a 6-1 sinking of the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday afternoon.
Connor McDavid recorded the most notable point in the win, registering his 150th point of the season late in the first period on his 63rd goal to become the sixth player in NHL history to reach 150 points in a single season and the first since Mario Lemieux reached the mark during the 1995-96 campaign.
"A special player joined an elite group of players in the history of the game," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "Obviously what drives him is making sure that the team wins, and he's a big reason why we won today."
The captain had two goals and an assist as one of two Oilers alongside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1G, 2A) to record three points, while Derek Ryan (1G, 1A), Zach Hyman (1G, 1A) and Evan Bouchard (2A) each produced two points in the victory. Mattias Ekholm posted an impressive +6 plus/minus with an assist, and Stuart Skinner stopped 22-of-23 shots for his 27th win of the season.
"I think you always think you could be playing better, right? But we're playing pretty well," Hyman said. "I think we're playing our best hockey at the most important time of year, so we've got to keep building our game and it's going well for us, so it's a good thing."
Edmonton improved to 48-23-9 with two games remaining in the regular season and remain two points back of the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights, who fell to the Dallas Stars 2-1 in the shootout on Saturday afternoon.
"We're on a good run," McDavid said. "We're feeling good about our game and heading into the fun time of year."
The Oilers head to Denver to conclude their final road trip of the regular season at Ball Arena against the Colorado Avalanche, who face the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night and can assist Edmonton in the standings if they earn two and keep themselves level with the Stars for first place in the Central Division.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY
Photo Gallery
Full Highlights
Look Back at the In-Game Blog
POST-GAME VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. SJS
POST-RAW | Coach Woodcroft
POST-RAW | Connor McDavid
POST-RAW | Zach Hyman
POST-GAME UPDATES
Inside The Oilers Blog

FIRST BLOOD

Fresh off reaching 100 points for the first time in his career in Anaheim on Wednesday, Nugent-Hopkins was the benefactor of a powerful drive to the net by McDavid and follow-up feed from Hyman to set up a back-door tap-in for his 101st.
The captain cut inside while drifting towards the top of the offensive zone and burned Norris Trophy-favourite Erik Karlsson as he drove to the net, shovelling a puck towards James Reimer in the San Jose crease before having his legs taken out by the swinging stick of the Sharks netminder.
The puck fell to Hyman, who scraped a soft pass over to the back post for Nugent-Hopkins to easily bury his 37th goal of the season and give Edmonton the 1-0 lead 5:46 into the first period.
Prior to this magical season by the former 2011 first-overall pick by the Oilers, Nugent-Hopkins' career high for goals was 28 during the 2018-19 season. He's since smashed those numbers, setting new career-highs in goals (37) and points (103) after coming up from the Shark Tank with a goal and two assists.

A MAJOR McDAVID MILESTONE

Before today, you could count every 150-point scorer in NHL history on one hand: Wayne Gretzky (nine times), Mario Lemieux (four times), Bernie Nicholls, Steve Yzerman and Phil Esposito.
Add the incredible Connor McDavidto that prestigious list.
Battling hard on a double shift with Warren Foegele and Derek Ryan in the final two minutes of first period, McDavid got the puck put on his stick through the mayhem in front of the San Jose net by Foegele for an easy open-net goal, becoming the first player since Lemieux in 1995-96 to reach 150 points with his 63rd goal in his 80th game this campaign at 18:16 of the first period.

"Leo is almost at 130 I think, right? So he's 20-something points up on the second guy, who's also on our team, who's 20 points up on the next guy," Hyman said. "I can't say enough things about him. Obviously just the best player in the world and just continues to push his own envelope and continues to make himself better and make our team better."
McDavid can climb into the top-10 for most points in a single NHL season by passing Steve Yzerman, who put up 155 points in 80 games back in 1988-89, with four points in Edmonton's two remaining regular-season games.
"Knowing him, he'll be back at it working on whatever he thinks he needs to work on, which I don't know what it is," Hyman said.

PLAY OF THE GAME

The dish and the delivery were both excellent, so they'll share the honours.
Hyman finished off a terrific pass from Ekholm with a sharp backhand far side on Reimer that lifted Edmonton into a two-goal lead just past the midwark of the second period.

Off a neutral-zone regroup, Ekholm drew the attention of two pursuing Sharks up high in the offensive zone before the Swede delivered a delicious no-look, back-hand pass to Hyman alone in the right circle. Hyman took the open ice in front of him and threw and threw his own backhand far side on Reimer that tucked itself inside the far post for his 36th goal of the season.
"We're excited about our team," Hyman said. "We're excited about our growth since (the Trade Deadline) and our growth throughout the year. We're playing some good hockey and we got to keep going here."

SHORT(HANDED) & SWEET

The Oilers took their first of two penalties on the afternoon late in the middle frame and had their sights set firmly on getting to the intermission with their two-goal lead intact. That was, however, until Derek Ryan picked off a wayward Karlsson pass and flew up the ice on a shortanded on a 3-on-1 with Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse.
The 36-year-old received the return feed from No. 93 to score his 13th of the season into an open net and break up an 11-game pointless streak for the Spokane, Wash. product. The expression Ryan delivered on his face after the goal was one of great relief for breaking a scoreless drought and great appreciation for the pass put into his tape by the recently-made 100-point scorer.
Ryan added a secondary assist on Philip Broberg's third-period for his first multi-point game since Dec. 7 against Arizona.

McDAVID DANGLES FOR NO. 64

151 points and counting.
Nugent-Hopkins tapped one back at the Sharks blue line to McDavid, who carried his speed into picking up the pass and gliding by the Sharks defence before going backhand-to-forehand over the right pad of Remier for his 64th of the season and third point of the night.
Bouchard set a new career-high for assists on the play with his second of the day and 32nd helper this season, while recording his 17th point from the back end since the addition of Ekholm at the Trade Deadline from the Nashville Predators.
Bouchard's Swedish counterpart had a magnificent +6 plus/minus with an assist and improved to +25 in 19 games as a member of the Oilers.
"A very good hockey player," Woodcroft commented on Ekholm. "We did our work on that player, spent a lot of time discussing that player, and then ultimately, we paid the price to go out and acquire that player. The first thing I would say is his unbelievable attitude, and he wanted to be an Edmonton Oiler. He wants to win in Edmonton, he wants to live in Edmonton, and his game fits what we needed and we're thankful he's on our team."

PARTING WORDS

McDavid on the special feeling of reaching 150 points and doing it with the support of his teammates:
"I hadn't put a ton of thought into it, and then the guys put a little video together of all the other five guys that have done it and it kind of hit me. That was special for them to do, and to hear from all five was was amazing. It meant a lot."
"We're a close group. The core guys have been here for a long time and in a lot of ways, we've kind of grown up together. Everyone that we've added has also been here a little bit now, a year or two, and the new guys have fit right in, so we're a tight group."
McDavid on Edmonton's strong defence, allowing 11 goals over their seven-game win streak and three in their last five:
"It's definitely been good. Being solid defensively leads to wins, we know that, and we've played well defensively... it's been a good run. We need to keep it rolling here. A big one here in Denver, and like I said, we want to keep the momentum rolling into the postseason."

Hyman on getting to know McDavid and seeing his drive to be the best:
"Yeah, it's unbelievable. Honestly, one of the things that surprised me the most about him was when I first met him was just his work ethic. I played against him a bunch, but when I first got to know him in the summertime, just his drive, his willingness to push himself and compete against himself and obviously against his peers. It's extremely impressive. Then obviously, what he does on the ice is him harnessing his ability and pushing it, so extremely impressive. It's probably one of the best seasons of all time, to be honest."
Woodcroft on the Oilers hitting their stride right before the playoffs:
"I like what we're seeing. I would go back to Christmas and say that I think that we've been playing pretty similarly since Christmas time. Specifically in the last five games, we've given up what we've given up, but for me I think there's been a real positive upward trend since Christmas time."
Woodcroft on defenceman Jason Demers playing his 700th NHL game and the last shift of the game:
"It's an important moment in his life, I'm sure. I was serious when I talked to the media before this game that this wasn't just something that we were getting somebody or something. Jason has been a real good soldier for our organization this year. He has shepherded those young players down in Bakersfield to secure a playoff spot down there, and I think when the opportunity presented itself to get a look at him, get a look at some of our depth as we move forward, we thought it was important. I think our organization did a really good thing and I know, and I'm not going to speak for Jason, but I know that is a big milestone in his personal life as well."