Skinner, Oilers shut out Sharks, 5-0

In San Jose, the visiting Edmonton Oilers ended the suspense quickly on Thursday when they hit for four goals in the first period, en route to a 5-0 shutout of the Sharks.

Oilers forward James Hamblin (57) screens Sharks goalie Magnus Chrona as Zach Hyman’s shot (not pictured) finds the net for the Oilers second goal – Photo by Jack Lima

Stuart Skinner made 25 saves in the win, it was his second shutout of campaign.

“You knew they were going to come out hard,” Skinner said. “They also had a game yesterday (San Jose lost 5-1 at the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday). You know these guys know how to score goals. You can see that they lose games every once in a while, but for the most part, they’re always getting their goals.”

The Oilers moved to 16-15-1 off their third straight win.

The opening stanza was a blur of scoring for the Oilers.

Ryan McLeod staked the Oilers to a 1-0 lead with 60 seconds of game fresh ice used.

Zach doubled the advantage midway through the period.

“The start really put some momentum in our favor, and it starts the game with a lot of people feeling confident out there on the ice,” the Oilers Darnell Nurse said. “Whenever you have a big start, especially coming off a break, it’s easy to wade yourself into the game and not get out to the start that you want.”

Evan Bouchard extended the lead to 3-0 at 14:55.

Leon Draisaitl ballooned the lead to 4-0 at 17:32 .

The Sharks dropped to 9-24-3 off their seventh straight loss.

“We gave them too much in the first,” the Sharks’ Tomas Hertl said. “We’re [playing] on a back-to-back, but that’s no excuse. This is a team that can score goals, and it seems like every time we have a great two or three chances, we have nothing and then they go the other way and score a goal.”

The Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored just ahead of the midway point of the game to make the final count 5-0.

Magnus Chrona made his NHL debut in the Sharks in net, but he yielded all four first period goals, making eight saves. He got the hook in the first intermission.

“It’s not the way we wanted to start for him,” San Jose defenseman Kyle Burroughs said of Chrona. “Your first NHL game is supposed to be special, and for us to let him down like that, it’s tough.”

Kaapo Kahkonen made 17 saves through the final 40 minutes.

“There were some good things that went on tonight, but we didn’t score a goal and we gave up five,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “You can’t be giving up five goals. Their goalie played well, and we had some chances. It wasn’t like it was a territorial dominated game by them. They just took advantage of our lapses, and we weren’t able to take advantage of theirs.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Jack.Lima@prohockeynews.com

Sharks forward Jack Studnicka (16) crashes the net in front of Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner as defenseman Mattias Ekholm (14) provides
support – Photo by Jack Lima

Sharks forward Filip Zadina’s (18) shot misses a wide open net during second period action – Photo by Jack Lima

Sharks defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk (83) checks Oiler forward Evander Kane (91) during first period action – Photo by Jack Lima

Sharks defenseman Calen Addison moves the puck up ice during a Sharks third period power play – Photo by Jack Lima

Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins passes the puck during third period action – Photo by Jack Lima

Sharks center Tomas Hertl moves the puck up ice – Photo by Jack Lima

Sharks defenseman Calen Addison (33) blocks a shot with his leg as teammate Kyle Burroughs provides support in front of Oilers forwards Adam Erne (21) and James Hamblin (57) – Photo by Jack Lima