Ryan’s 2 goals help San Jose top Edmonton
Joakim Ryan scored the first two goals of his career — the second of which broke a lategame tie — as the Sharks beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-4 Saturday night at SAP Center.
The only bummer was his father Bill Ryan was ill and couldn’t attend Saturday night’s game along with the Sharks players’ other dads.
“It was kind of crazy. He’s going to meet us in Anaheim tomorrow if he feels better,” Ryan said of San Jose’s quick turnaround game against the Ducks on Sunday. “But maybe he should stay home more often.”
The rookie defenseman picked up a rebound of his own shot and beat Edmonton goalie Al Montoya at 17:33 of the third period to give the hosts a 5-4 lead. Joe Pavelski added an empty-netter — his second goal of the night and 14th of the season — at 18:48 as San Jose snapped a two-game losing streak.
“Forty-five games in, you start to think about it a little: ‘Is it ever going to happen?’ ” Ryan said. “It’s definitely nice to get that first one, and getting that second was even better.”
Not long after Edmonton scored its fourth straight goal to take a 4-3 lead early in the third, the Sharks capitalized on an Oilers turnover. Tomas Hertl scored his 15th goal at 3:41 of the period with a backhand topshelf effort after faking to the forehand while alone in front.
“We talked about the second and third that it didn’t matter what it looked like to that point, it was an important game and we needed the points,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said.
Brandon Davidson scored at 1:21 of the third to give the Oilers a 4-3 lead when a goalmouth pass intended for Milan Lucic ricocheted off the skate of the Sharks’ Joonas Donskoi to the stick of the Oilers defenseman.
“The one thing about this group they don’t get down on themselves,” DeBoer said. “That fourth goal could have been backbreaking to a lot of groups, but there’s a lot of resiliency here.”
The Sharks built a 3-0 lead by the early stages of the second period, and appeared to be in complete control until the Oilers struck for three goals in the span of 9:13 to tie it 3-3 after 40 minutes.
“It was kind of a weird game,” Sharks forward Logan Couture said. “They tried to give it to us in the first and we gave it right back to them in the second. It seemed like no one wanted to win.”
Ryan scored his first career goal in 46 NHL games just 1:15 after the opening faceoff. The Sharks got a break to extend their lead to 2-0 at 7:21 of the first as a backhand pass by Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse caromed off the referee and then off the side of the net to Pavelski, who scored.
Barclay Goodrow made it 3-0 at 2:30 of the third when he rifled a drop pass from Jannik Hansen past Montoya.
All seemed safe until the Sharks got turnover-happy just before mid-period.
“Way too many mistakes by guys who shouldn’t be making them, and they end up in the back of our net,” Couture said.
Oilers center Leon Draisaitl tied it at 18:02 when he outmuscled San Jose defensemen Brent Burns and Ryan to gather a loose puck and swat it low on the ice past goalie Aaron Dell.
Briefly: Hansen appeared for the first time in eight games to take Joel Ward’s spot on the fourth line. Ward is day to day with a shoulder injury. … Martin Jones is expected to start in goal on Sunday in Anaheim.