GAME RECAP: Sharks 3, Oilers 2

SAN JOSE, CA – The Edmonton Oilers had their eight-game win streak against the San Jose Sharks snapped on Thursday night with a 3-2 defeat at SAP Center.

Defenceman Darnell Nurse tied the game in the second period on an odd-man rush with Dylan Holloway to erase Fabian Zetterlund's first-period tally, but a response goal from Tomas Hertl before the break and Filip Zadina's early marker in the final frame were enough to condemn the Oilers to their fourth straight defeat despite Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' goal with Edmonton's net empty in the final two-and-a-half minutes of regulation.

Netminder Mackenzie Blackwood made 39 saves for the second straight game for the Sharks, who've now won two games in a row. The San Jose shot-stopper outduelled Stuart Skinner, who dropped to 3-1-0 in his career against San Jose after making 15 saves on 18 shots.

The Oilers fall to 2-9-1 on the season heading into the concluding game of their three-game Pacific Division road trip on Saturday night at Climate Pledge Arena against the Seattle Kraken.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers couldn't capitalize on two power-play opportunities before the Sharks drew first blood late in the first period.

"Our power play is usually indicative of our entire offensive game, and right now, we have some shooters that aren't shooting at their typical rate," Woodcroft said. "It hasn't been anywhere near of what we're capable of.

The best scoring chance during Edmonton's first man advantage came at the opposite end when Stuart Skinner was called upon to make up for Connor McDavid's mistake on a zone entry. The captain coughed up the puck at the blueline after cutting back to the inside, leading to a breakaway for Luke Kunin that was shut down by Skinner after the Edmonton product quickly closed the five-hole.

Foegele had the Blue & Orange's best opportunity on an odd-man rush with a wide-open look from the left circle, but Blackwood, the Sharks' netminder who made 39 saves in their first victory of the season this week against Philadelphia, flashed the blocker to keep things square before San Jose broke the deadlock late in the period.

With less than two minutes remaining in the opening frame, the Sharks exploited a gap in Edmonton's coverage around their own goal when Tomas Hertl found Fabian Zetterlund open in front for a one-timer into the left side of Skinner's net.

"I would say it started with a pass that is a fundamental pass that could've and should've been made and handled. It got turned back in the neutral zone and got dumped back in on us," Woodcroft said.

"There was a goalie handle that we'd like to have back, and then all of a sudden you find yourself breathing through your eyelids and having to defend. When the puck is outside the trapezoid or close to the trapezoid, you want to make sure that you're packed in tight. We weren't, and that's certainly an error, but I would bring it even farther back to those two instances – probably about 20 and 30 seconds before that."

It was only San Jose's 15th goal in their opening 13 games and it put the hosts ahead with 85 seconds remaining in the period.

SECOND PERIOD

Despite being handed a lifeline early in the middle frame, a bad bounce was responsible for the Oilers being back behind by one through 40 minutes.

Darnell Nurse glided down the ice on a two-on-one with Dylan Holloway and elected to forego the pass and unleash a lethal wrist shot that went post-in past Blackwood to tie the game at 1-1.

The goal was the Hamilton product's third of the season, but despite the Oilers feeling better about their game, bad bounces have a way of popping up.

"We say the right words. We go into every game with the same mindset," Draisaitl said. "We out-chance and outshoot a lot of teams, and it seems like we're not deserving of bounces right now. And you can't rely on bounces, I'm aware of that, but just not scoring enough and obviously giving up too much."

Forward William Eklund crossed into Edmonton's zone and offloaded a pass to Nikita Okhotiuk, who took a shot towards goal that struck the back of the skate of Zetterlund. The puck changed course and fell perfectly to Tomas Hertl, who ripped a one-timer over the sliding Stuart Skinner who couldn't get across in time with such short notice.

THIRD PERIOD

A blue-line battle won by the Sharks early in the final frame proved vital to victory.

Ryan Carpenter won the puck off Nurse inside San Jose's zone before poking it ahead to Nico Sturm, who had Filip Zadina alongside him for an odd-man rush. Sturm slid the puck under the stick of Cody Ceci to the Czech forward to one-time past Skinner just 1:56 into the final frame, stretching San Jose's advantage back to two with over 18 minutes left in regulation.

"We're not finding ways to score, and I mean, we're saying the right things," Nugent-Hopkins said. "We're trying to get there, trying to make it hard on goalies, but it's not going. And then, when there seems to be a breakdown, teams are capitalizing and it's not any individual's fault, but there's only one way through and it's going to be together. I believe in this group that we can find a way out for sure."

Zadina's goal proved to be important after Edmonton pulled their goalie for the extra man and got a goal back from Nugent-Hopkins, who found a loose puck at the right post with 2:26 left before the final buzzer.

That led to a frantic finish where the Oilers poured on the pressure in search of an equalizer, but they weren't able to prevent the Sharks from taking all two points.

PARTING WORDS

Woodcroft on Edmonton's place in the standings after 12 games:

"I don't look at it like that. I look at it as we have to do a much better job of securing two points. I think we've had moments, but we can do better. For a full 60 minutes, I thought we did a lot of good things. I didn't think anyone grew impatient. But in the end, some costly mistakes ended up in the back of our net. And right now, when you're not outscoring mistakes, you have to find a way to limit them."

Nugent-Hopkins on Edmonton's struggles scoring this season:

"We talked I think early on in the season. We're getting on the outside too much, not getting to the net. Now I think we're getting bodies to the net. Our D-men are putting the puck where we want them to and we're not able to find those dirty ones around the net. We obviously have done it before. We scored a bunch before, but it's not happening right now. So we got to keep our heads up. But like I said, it's going to take everybody in here to get out."

Draisaitl on the challenges within the group right now:

"Just the way it goes sometimes. It's a tough league. Guys play their heart out. Obviously not too many guys in this room that have confidence right now, so I'm part of that group. Just keep trying to get better every day."

"I've had weeks before where it didn't go my way. This one seems a little more drastic because it's early on in the year, but I've had stretches like this before. Every player in the league has had stretches like this before, so I'm not overly worried. The goals will come, and if they don't, then you know you've got to continue to find different ways to score as a team."