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Sharks blow three leads and the
game
Oilers take OT win after McLellan
fired
When Todd McLellan woke up this morning, he was
still the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. By the start of the Oilers game
with the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night, McLellan was out of a job. The
Sharks don't need many excuses to play mediocre hockey, but the Oilers coaching
change was enough to inspire Edmonton to a 4-3 overtime win at SAP Center. Leon
Draisaitl booted a puck past Martin Jones with the only shot of the overtime to
allow Ken Hitchcock to win his first game as bench boss for the Oilers.
The Sharks bad habit of giving up leads caught up to them once again.
They were so bad at maintaining a lead that they allowed the Oilers to comeback
three time Tuesday night. Rather than building on a lead, the Sharks always
seemed to find a way to surrender the equalizer.
That was something
that was destined to bite San Jose. Playing a team that has arguably the best
player in the league, or at least one of the fastest in Connor McDavid, was
destined to hurt San Jose.
McDavid recorded a goal and two assists,
including the primary helper on Draisaitl's game winner. San Jose never even
had a chance to score in overtime. After controlling the faceoff, Logan Couture
coughed up the puck before San Jose could even generate a shot.
McDavid, Draisaitl and Oscar Klefbom gained the Sharks zone and scored. End of
game. It was a contest that should have gone much differently had they worked
harder and focused more. They didn't, so they paid the price.
Joonas
Donskoi opened the scoring just 45 seconds in to the contest, by slicing across
the top of the Oilers crease and lifting a backhand chance past Edmonton
goaltender Mikko Kosikinen. Brent Burns fired a shot on net from the right
point that Koskinen stopped, but Donskoi was followed the shot and was in the
perfect spot to gather the rebound and clean up. Joe Pavelski was credited with
the secondary assist.
The Sharks inability to clear the puck from
their own zone cost them at the 8 minute mark, when Connor McDavid buried a
Leon Draisaitl feed from the left post. Melker Karlsson fell at his own
blueline, missing on a chance to move the puck out of his own zone. Adam
Larsson moved the puck to Draisaitl on the right post, who then spotted McDavid
cutting to the net. McDavid tapped home a feed across the top of the crease to
knot the game at 1-1.
San Jose reclaimed the lead 2:23 later when
Marcus Sorensen collected a Joe Thornton feed while parked near the left circle
and buried his 4th goal of the year. Thornton setup Sorensen with a pass from
the end boards. Thornton's assist moved him into a tie with Mario Lemieux for
11th all time on the career assists list with 1,033 assists. Marcel Dionne sits
in the 10th spot just 7 assists ahead of Thornton.
Zach Kassian was
sent off for hooking with 14 seconds left in the period. The bulk of the
penalty carried over to the 2nd period, where the Sharks managed to accomplish
the opposite of what most teams for shoot for when on the man advantage. Brent
Burns turned the puck over in the Oilers zone, then covered neither of the two
Oiler players skating on a 2-on-1 break.
Kyle Brodziak stick-handled up the right wing with
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on his left as Burns flailed aimlessly between the two.
Brodziak drew Martin Jones over to the right side of the net before setting up
Nugent-Hopkins with a perfect pass off the left post. Nugent Hopkins buried the
pass with his 5th goal of the season to re-tie the game.
Koskinen put
the clamps on the Sharks in the middle period, keeping San Jose under wraps for
the first 19 minutes of the frame. Logan Couture negated that with a pretty
goal in the last minute of play when he carried a puck up the left wing and cut
inside Larsson before lifting a shot past Koskinen.
Drake Caggiula
helped Edmonton tie the game for a third time, tapping home a pass from McDavid
on a 2-on-2 break. McDavid carried the puck up the left side before feathering
a pass to his right where Caggiula beat Tomas Hertl to a spot where he could
tap it past Jones.
That goal turned out to be a back breaker, because
it allowed Edmonton to get to overtime. The cement skating Sharks never had a
chance in the extra session.
Game Notes:
* Tomas Hertl
returned to the lineup after missing 3 games with a lower body injury. Hertl
has been dealing with a longer standing issue, and his most recent absence was
not associated to the concussion he suffered three weeks ago.
* The
Sharks recalled forward Lukas Radil earlier in the day and sent Dylan Gambrell
back to the San Jose Barracuda (AHL), Radil was a scratch along with Tim Heed
and Radim Simek, who has yet to make his NHL debut yet.
* Marc-Edouard
Vlassic's sub-par season continues. The defenseman was on the ice for the last
three Oiler goals. He has struggled to turn in the lock down defense that we're
all accustomed to seeing.
* In addition to catching Mario Lemieux, Joe
Thornton sits mere 16 assists from the great Gordy Howe.
* Joe
Pavelski finished the game by winning 14 of 19 draws (74%).
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| EDM |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| SJ |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Donskoi 5 (Burns, Pavelski), 0:45. 2, EDM, McDavid 13 (Draisaitl, Larsson),
8:08. 3, SJ, Sorensen 4 (Thornton, Labanc), 10:32. |
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| 2nd period - 4, EDM,
Nugent-Hopkins 5 (Brodziak), 1:46, (sh). 5, SJ, Couture 7 (Hertl), 19:04. |
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| 3rd period - 6, EDM,
Caggiula 7 (McDavid, Draisaitl), 3:32. |
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| Overtime - 7, EDM,
Draisaitl 13 (McDavid), 0:51. |
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| 1st period - Klefbom,
EDM (slashing), 11:41; Kassian, EDM (hooking), 19:46. |
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| 2nd period - Caggiula,
EDM (high sticking), 7:23; E. Karlsson, SJ (hooking), 7:34. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| EDM - Koskinen |
25 |
22 |
| SJ - Jones |
23 |
19 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| EDM |
6 |
5 |
11 |
1 |
23 |
| SJ |
10 |
8 |
7 |
0 |
25 |
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| Referees: Hebert,
MacDougal. Linesmen: Murchison, Gibbons. |
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