ATTACKING THE SHARKS
Oilers enjoy 5-3 win
With a 2-11 record after they win a game, and a 5-10-0 record at Rogers Place, the Edmonton Oilers were a risky bet when the San Jose Sharks came to town Monday night.
But the statistical long-shot paid off big for an Oilers team hoping to salvage its season.
The Oilers, who were in command most of the night, survived a third-period charge to post a 5-3 victory over the Sharks and win two in a row for just the third time this year.
The Oilers, who seem to be closing in on the formula that worked for them last year, improved to 15-17-2 and will have to run the table against St Louis and Montreal if they are to reach their goal of reaching 17-17-2 by the Christmas break.
They stumbled out of the gate, giving up the first goal for the 21st time in 34 games when Joe Pavelski took advantage of Edmonton’s struggling penalty kill at 6:15 of the first period. And given the Oilers were 5-14-1 the previous 20 times they had fallen behind 1-0, it didn’t look good.
But Edmonton’s offence took off after that, with Mark Letestu and Ryan Strome converting sweet feeds from Leon Draisaitl to make it 2-1 after 20 minutes.
The Strome goal was the 10,000th goal in Oilers history.
After Drake Caggiula made it 3-1 six minutes into the second period it looked like the home team might be free and clear.
It wasn’t.
The Sharks closed it to 3-2 after 40 minutes on a goal from Tomas Hertl to set up the third period finish.
Patrick Maroon provided some breathing room with his bullet inside the post at 8:23 to give the Oilers a 4-2 lead, but San Jose wouldn’t go away, closing it to within a goal again on Marcus Sorenson’s tally with eight minutes to play.
There were some heart-stopping moments in the final seconds until Strome sealed it with a shot into the empty net from 150 feet away. Cam Talbot improved his record to 2-0 since his return after missing seven games with an injury, making 18 saves.
Martin Jones made 24 saves in a losing cause.