In Edmonton Monday night, Cam Talbot made 18 saves to help the Oilers defeat the visiting San Jose Sharks, 5-3.
The win was the Oilers’ fourth in five games as they start to heat up ahead of the holiday break.
Ryan Strome had two strikes and Patrick Maroon and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added single markers as did Mark Letestu .
“I think we’ve been gaining confidence the last six games. We have been playing really good,” Maroon said. “Every line is going now, every line is chipping in at the right time, and it is so good to see at this time of year. All four lines are buzzing. We have some good chemistry right now.”
The Sharks got goals from Joe Pavelski, Tomas Hertl and Marcus Sorensen as they dropped to 17-11-4 on the campaign.
“We’re not as tight defensively as we have been. We’ve also got some guys out of the lineup who weren’t out earlier in the year too,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said. “I think we did a good job on [Connor] McDavid tonight (he was held without a point). I thought the difference in the game was the depth. They got some more depth scoring than we did.”
Logan Couture is sidelined for San Jose with a concussion.
“Other guys have got to get up and get the job done, and they didn’t tonight,” DeBoer said. “The fourth line got pinned in their own zone for extended periods to the point where we couldn’t really play them. And then you overuse other guys, and you’ve got to find a way.”
[WATCH: All Sharks vs. Oilers highlights]
Martin Jones made 24 saves in taking the loss.
“We just lost a bit of momentum at times. I think it was a game that always felt like it was right there, but we were just a step slow or execution was off just a little bit — too many odd-man rushes. It was a game that felt like it was there for us,” Pavelski said after the loss.
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