Shorthanded goals make it a long night
EDMONTON — Connor McDavid and Zack Kassian took advantage of the Sharks’ sputtering power play to score shorthanded goals in the Edmonton Oilers’ 2-0 win Friday night, evening the best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series at a game apiece. Game 3 is Sunday night in San Jose. Kassian scored early in the second period and McDavid added the insurance goal midway through the third period.
It was a dominant performance by the Oilers and particularly by Kassian, a fourth-line wing.
Kassian drove the net effectively and delivered bone-jarring hits on Brenden Dillon and Logan Couture at Rogers Place. By the end of
the second period, fans were chanting, “Kass-i-an!”
Edmonton outshot the Sharks 36-16 and outhit them 41-21.
“We’re disappointed with the way it went,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “We got what we probably deserved out there.”
It was a reversal of Game 1, when the Sharks outshot the Oilers 44-19 en route to a 3-2 overtime win.
This time the Oilers kept their foot on the gas pedal, outshooting and outhitting the Sharks throughout the game.
Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot faced few quality scoring chances en route to a shutout.
It was Edmonton’s first playoff win since 2006. The Oilers had missed the playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons before this year.
Kassian scored 42 seconds into the second period when Pavelski, on a Sharks’ power play, lost control of the puck at the Oilers’ blue line. He swiped at the puck with this stick, tipping it to the Oilers’ Mark Letestu.
Letestu promptly passed to the streaking Kassian, who barreled in alone and fired a wrist shot low past the blocker of goalie Martin Jones.
McDavid, the league’s regular-season scoring leader, scored his first NHL playoff goal at the 10:31 mark of the third period, streaking down the left side and launching a short-side wrist shot that eluded Jones.
The Sharks were 0-for-6 with the man advantage and are 1-for-12 through the first two games. Their power play was ranked 25th in the NHL in the regular season at 16.7 percent.
One possible factor in the Sharks’ current lack of success on the power play is the absence of center Joe Thornton, who has been day-to-day with a knee injury suffered April 2.
Thornton has been skating in practice, and head coach Peter DeBoer has said he expects Thornton to return at some point in the series.