DEBOER: ‘THEY DESERVED TO WIN’
Oilers, Sharks set to renew playoff hostilities
Has it really been eight months since Anton Slepyshev, now in and out of the lineup — if not the doghouse — was taking a bite out of goalie Martin Jones on his breakaway gamewinner to get the Edmonton Oilers past the San Jose Sharks in six playoff games?
Yes, indeed. April 22, 2017, at the Shark Tank was the last time familiarity bred contempt as the Oilers and the Sharks met. It was a crazy series. The Oilers lost the first game at home on Melker Karlsson’s overtime goal, then got two straight shutouts from Cam Talbot and two gamewinners from Zack Kassian.
Then, inexplicably, they got blown out 7-1 in Game 4 in San Jose, but got back up off the mat to win Game 5 here with David Desharnais’s killshot, double-overtime winner. In Game 6, Slepyshev, who can’t get any traction as a regular forward for the Oilers this season, was one of the heroes in a 3-1 victory.
The Sharks had Jumbo Joe Thornton playing on a leg and a prayer with his left knee ligaments shred- ded, and Logan Couture’s teeth were such a mess after a puck hit him before the playoffs that it hurt to even breathe, never mind skate.
They hung tough, but the Oilers hung tougher.
“There’s definitely some familiarity there, a rivalry. You can’t hide from the history of the coaching staff there and our guys,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said of Sharks-turned-Oilers counterparts Todd McLellan, Jay Woodcroft and Jim Johnson. “There’s a heightened awareness — the emotions get up for these games.
“We played them in the playoffs, coaching staff, these guys (Sharks) played for them a long time. There’s all kinds of hooks there.”
Like last year, the Sharks aren’t using the injuries to two of their top three forwards as an alibi as they currently sit third in the Pacific Division..
“It was difficult but it’s not an excuse. Everybody deals with injuries and we caught some of that the year before when we went to the finals,“DeBoer said of a 2016 showdown against the Pittsburgh Penguins. ”That’s hockey. “The Oilers were the better team in the playoffs last year, they deserved to win.”
He received no argument from Sharks captain Joe Pavelski, who has 20 goals and 41 points in 45 games against the Oilers in his career. The loss stung and now they’ll see Edmonton for the first time since April, so there will be an extra tug of emotion Monday. But it’s only only December, not April, with the Sharks eight points up on their opponent.
Still playoff memories don’t completely fade.
“Obviously, you want to win. It’s fresh in your mind that way,” Pavelski said, add- ing it for surely hurt having Thornton hobbled and Couture’s mouth wired last spring. “We had opportunities to win the series and didn’t execute.
“Whether a couple of injuries affected that or not, there’s no excuses. They beat us.”
Couture, who has 16 goals in 26 career games against the Oilers, is on the Western Canada trip but is out with a possible concussion after taking a shoulder to the jaw from Vancouver’s Alex Burmistrov Friday night. He was woozy then and didn’t skate here Sunday.
“He’s day-to-day and we’ll go through the protocol and we’ll see where that takes us,” said DeBoer, who’ll play Tomas Hertl in the No. 2 centre hole. “He’s such an important player for us.
“He plays in all situations, penalty-kill, PP and the start he’s had (26 points), yeah, it’s definitely a big loss but I’ll try to step up and make a few big plays. “We’ll figure it out.” Pavelski only has six goals after 41, 37, 38 and 29 goal seasons.