In Edmonton, the San Jose Sharks rallied from an early 0-2 deficit to the Oilers and scored five straight goals in a 6-3 win on Thursday night.
Timo Meier struck twice and had three points in the win.
“It was a little bit of a rough start,” San Jose’s Erik Karlsson said. “They obviously came out with the fresher legs and more intensity. I thought we stuck with it and kept it tight, and after the first six or seven minutes, we controlled most of the game and we played a smart game.”
Aaron Dell made 28 saves in the win.
“I think we handled it pretty well,” Dell said. “We were a little bit sloppy, we could have fallen apart and it could have gone ugly. But we picked each other up and bounced back and went into the second a tie game.”
Sam Gagner and Connor McDavid staked the Oilers to the early lead.
“Even though we were up two, I thought they were still taking the play to us,” McDavid said. “We got a couple, which was good, but they took the game to us all night. We were just flat and emotionless. We’re at our best when we’re playing with emotion and being physical and in guys faces and playing the right way.”
After the first push from Edmonton in the early minutes, the Sharks responded.
“We knew there was plenty of time left,” Meier said. “McDavid, we all know his skill and that he was going to make a play and he’s going to beat a guy wide. We just stuck with it, we didn’t panic, we stayed positive, and that’s what we have to do in those moments. We found a way to turn the game around and came out on top.”
Evander Kane, Maxim Letunov, Stefan Noesen, and Kevin Labanc had single markers for the Sharks.
“I thought that’s where most of our goals came from tonight, everybody went to the net and stopped at the net,” Meier said. “You have to grind it out. I know sometimes it’s painful, but that’s where you get rewarded, and I think we did a good job of that.”
Ethan Bear scored in the third period for the Oilers.
“We were just getting outcompeted and beat on plays in our zone,” Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. “They competed on battles harder than we did and they got to the inside, they got to our net, and we didn’t get to theirs, and that was the difference in the game.”
[WATCH: All Sharks vs. Oilers highlights]
Mikko Koskinen made 25 saves in the loss.
“We had a good start, and they came back at the end of the first,” the Oilers’ Adam Larsson said. “When they scored the first one, that’s the time we need to respond, and they got a second one. We did everything right to start out the game and couldn’t sustain it. That’s kind of the story the rest of the night.”
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