Sharks lose to Oilers on the road.
McDavid makes Sharks pay for mistakes; San Jose drops to third in Pacific
EDMONTON, Alberta — A few times over the past two weeks the Sharks have come away from games feeling like they deserved a better fate.
Thursday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers had that same feeling, but Connor McDavid made sure to punish the Sharks for the few mistakes they did make.
The Sharks controlled large stretches of the first two periods but didn’t have an answer for McDavid, who pounced on a pair of miscues to lead the Oilers to a 3-2 win at Rogers Place.
McDavid assisted on Patrick Maroon’s goal after a shoddy Sharks line change, and later scored his first career shorthanded goal in spectacular fashion as the Oilers took over sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division with 95 points.
“You make a mistake when he’s on the ice, and there’s a good chance it’ll end up in the back of the net,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said of McDavid, referencing a couple of poor Sharks’ line changes.
Jannik Hansen and Joe Pavelski scored for the Sharks, who fell two points back of the Oil-
ers and three back of first place Anaheim. The Sharks, who have lost seven of eight, travel to Calgary to play the Flames on Friday.
Even during their recent six-game losing streak, the Sharks felt they did enough to earn some points, such as three straight one-goal losses in regulation time to Anaheim, Dallas and Minnesota.
Thursday fell into that same category, with the Sharks outshooting the Oilers 27-17 through 40 minutes. Edmonton goalieCam Talbot made 38 saves.
“It’s a tough one to give up on the short-handed one. That’s on us as players,” Pavelski said. “Both goals were maybe on line changes, just a couple little breakdowns cost us tonight. Otherwise it was a pretty solid game. I thought there was good energy, good atmosphere, fun to play.”
With the Sharks up 1-0 on Hansen’s goal 1:01 into the first period, Talbot sent a puck up ice for Leon Draisaitl near the Sharks blue line.
Draisaitl found McDavid, who wheeled around and found an open Maroon for his 26th goal of the season at the 10:22 mark of the first. Maroon had beaten Marc-Edouard Vlasic to the net and tapped in McDavid’s pass.
“We didn’t sort it out,” Vlasic said of the defense on Maroon’s goal.
The Oilers’ second goal came short-handed, as McDavid picked up a pass from Oscar Klefbom in the neutral zone, blew past Patrick Marleau and roofed a backhand past Martin Jones for a 2-1 Edmonton lead.
McDavid’s two points give him a NHL-best 91 for the season.
“Through this streak, that’s kind of been what we’ve dealt with,” DeBoer said. “We’ve pushed hard and haven’t cashed in, and when you’re not scoring ... it is a race to three every night in this league, and the first team that usually gets there usually wins. We’ve been getting to one or two too often.”
Pavelski scored his team-leading 29th goal of the season at the 13:59 mark of the third, reaching out to redirect a shot from Vlasic past Talbot to give the Sharks some life.
Hansen also assisted on Pavelski’s goal and got into a fight with Edmonton’s Adam Larsson, giving him a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, an assist and a fight.
Before Thursday, the Sharks’ games against potential playoff opponents had not gone well. They played the St. Louis Blues on March 16 and lost 41, played the Anaheim Ducks two days later and lost 2-1.
They then finished off a four-game road trip against the Nashville Predators on Saturday, and lost 7-2.
The Sharks had won two of the first three games against the Oilers this season, with the last meeting on Jan. 26 being a 4-1 loss at SAP Center when Andrej Sekera scored twice and McDavid had a goal and an assist.
Logan Couture will not join the Sharks for the remainder of their road trip, DeBoer said Thursday. Couture, injured in Saturday’s 7-2 loss to the Nashville Predators after he took a deflected puck to the mouth, did not fly with the Sharks to Edmonton and will not play Friday or Sunday against the Vancouver Canucks.
nThe Sharks reinserted Micheal Haley into Thursday lineup after he served his one-game suspension for punching Nashville’s Calle Jarnkrok. Kevin Labanc was a healthy scratch, along with Marcus Sorensen and Dylan DeMelo.
The Sharks announced the signing of free agent defenseman Nick DeSimone to an entry-level contract, starting next season. CapFriendly.com reported DeSimone’s deal is worth $1.85 million over two years at the NHL level. DeSimone also signed an AHL amateur tryout for the remainder of this season and will report to the Barracuda. DeSimone, 22, recently completed his junior season with Union College.