In Edmonton, the Oilers were returning to the NHL post season and the early results were showing a quick start on offense and a strong defense.
Paul Martin’s goal tied the game Wednesday forcing OT in Game 1 – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Problem is the post season can be more than 60 minutes.
The San Jose Sharks weathered a two-goal outburst from the Oilers to rally and win Game 1 Wednesday night on an overtime goal from Melker Karlsson with just 3:22 gone in the first OT period.
“We played a solid game, pretty good defensively,” Karlsson said. “We got the chance and I snuck it in. I got a little space and [Pavelski] saw me in the middle. It was a half-breakaway. It was nice.”
The early adrenaline for the Oilers drove the offense with Oscar Klefbom and Milan Lucic scoring to give the home faithful reason to cheer with a 2-0 lead.
From there, the Sharks regained some poise and shut down the offense of the young and fast Oilers.
Martin Jones made only 17 saves on the night to get the win.
“It was a big win, we came back so strong,” San Jose forward Tomas Hertl said. “The reason we went so far last year is because we kept coming back in the second and third periods. We just keep going. We have a deep team. If we keep playing this same way, we will win the next game here too.”
The San Jose rally was driven Joel Ward‘s goal in the middle frame and Paul Martin‘s third period goal to tie it at 2-2.
Edmonton was a bit over enthusiastic on the night with a number penalties including in the second and third when they surrendered the game to the Sharks.
“The biggest thing is we’ve got to stay out of the box,” Jordan Eberle,said. “I think you lose momentum by doing that. The guys who kill are wasting a lot of energy, and the guys who aren’t, they’re sitting on the bench. So you don’t get a lot of flow in the game, so you can’t roll the lines and play the way we know we can play.”
Cam Talbot took the loss on 41 saves.
“They were able to grab the game and we were unable to grab it back,” Oilers head coach Todd McLellan said. “There are some things we have to improve on. We didn’t come out of our end very well, we didn’t play with a lot of pace, and I think that was a product of their checking, their tenacity, and that’s playoff hockey. It’s going to get tighter, it’s going to get harder.”
Game 2 is Friday in Edmonton.
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