There are ugly losses, and then there are
split your face open with a lead pipe ugly. The Sharks endured the latter on
Friday night as the visiting Edmonton Oilers ran roughshod on SAP Center Ice.
The Oilers scored the first 7 goals of the game en route to a 7-1 spanking of
the Sharks. There was nothing lucky about 7 goals allowed on a Friday the 13th
that turned out to be a bludgeoning affair for San Jose. Connor McDavid a pair
of goals and added an assist in the win. Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
added a goal and 2 assists each in the massacre.
Five different Oilers
skaters scored goals for Edmonton, but there was no doubt who led the attack.
The McDavid-Draisaitl-Nugent-Hopkins line simply smothered the Sharks from the
get go.
San Jose opened the game on a quick power play after Oilers
left winger Dylan Holloway was called for interfering with goaltender Kaapo
Kahkonen. The Sharks promptly whiffed on the power play.
Nick Cicek
would take the first of two costly penalties at 9:52 of the period, after he
was called for interference on Klim Kostin. The Oilers converted a minute later
when McDavid scored his 36th goal of the season. Defending McDavid is hard
enough 5-on-5, but the Sharks gave him the advantage of skating in open ice.
Edmonton doubled up their lead with 1:46 left in regulation on a fluke
play that ended up in the back of the Sharks net. Zach Hyman threw a puck to
the top of the Sharks crease from the left wing boards, where it hit Kostin in
the skate. The puck took a 90 degree turn left and past Kahkonen.
The
Sharks failed to respond out of the gate in the 2nd period. Cicek was sent off
once McDavid converted. Draisaitl gathered the rebound off a Nugent-Hopkins
shot, and in the blink of an eye, sent a pass to McDavid on the left side for
the easy tap in.
If the Sharks were going to get back into this one,
they had no better an opportunity than after Darnell Nurse was sent off for
hooking. They would do exactly the opposite. After coughing up the puck in the
Edmonton zone, San Jose allowed the Oilers to generate a breakaway chance that
Kahkonen defended. Problem is, they didn't hustle back on defense and the
Oilers worked the puck off the end-boards and Nugent-Hopkins fired home his
21st of the season to make it a 4-0 game.
Oh, but the fun wasn't over.
Draisaitl abused the Sharks further, pumping a shot that Kahkonen clipped but
couldn't stop to make it a 5-0 game at the 17:55 mark. By the time the horn
sounded to end the period, the Sharks were in a hole 5-goals deep and had
already surrendered a even strength, power play and short-handed goal.
The Sharks threw in the towel at that point. Jesse
Puljujarvi ripped a shot past Kahkonen at 12:14, then Ryan Mcleod matched his
linemate 32 seconds later to push the Oilers to 7-0.
Oskar Lindblom
finally got the Sharks on the board at 15:02 with a redirect off a Matt Benning
shot, but it was way too little, way too late.
Game
Notes: * Sharks head coach David Quinn joked about the fact that it
was Connor McDavid's birthday. He sarcastically quipped that his birthday was
just what the Sharks needed. He was in less a jovial mood after the game.
* In his 18 starts so far this season, Kaapo Kahkonen has given up 4
or more goals in a game 11 times.
* Defenseman Jaycob Megna was the
only Sharks skater to turn in a -3 night. Players are not assessed a minus
rating if they are defending on the penalty kill when a goal is scored.
* While two goals came on the power play for Edmonton, Matt Benning
was on the ice for the first 5 Oilers goals.
* The Oilers won 22 of 63
faceoffs for a 35% conversion rate. Faceoff wins clearly had nothing to do with
the Oilers success tonight.
