Monday night’s game between the Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks was more about milestones than stakes in the standings. Connor McDavid was returning from a lower body injury with 99 assists, looking to become just the fourth ever player to reach the century mark (Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr). Evan Bouchard came into the game with 79 points, and would be the first Oilers defenceman since Assistant Coach Paul Coffey to reach 80 in a single season.
Meanwhile, the San Jose Sharks were locked into 32nd overall, with the best odds to win the right to draft Macklin Celebrini and the Oilers as a team were all but locked into second in the Pacific Division, awaiting either the Vegas Golden Knights or Los Angeles Kings. The goalies that started the game were Devin Cooley and Stuart Skinner.
McDavid is back
Connor McDavid gets Jack Thompson all turned around and beats him clean to the outside. He passes across for what could have been his 100th assist but former Oiler killer Marc-Edouard Vlassic puts it in his own net. Cooley had gone into an overlap then blew out on his push so he had no chance.
Edmonton with their second goal
Cooley provides a perfect example why sliding into saves can be a death sentence. The original Brett Kulak shot is relatively harmless, but is blocked en route setting up Adam Henrique. However, Cooley had slid on to the trajectory, taking him out of his net and giving Henrique a wide open net.
Foegele makes it three
Leon Draisaitl makes a great defensive play, feeding Warren Foegele and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for the two-on-one. Foegele rips a shot along the ice, with the little bit of backwards movement making it tougher for Cooley to seal the ice.
Holloway gets the fourth goal
The Oilers set up a nice passing play with Darnell Nurse going across to Henrique who one touches it back to Dylan Holloway. Cooley gets a push across, but with the quick timing he isn’t able to square up or rotate on the second pass leaving the five hole open.
San Jose finally scores
This is one of the worst goals Skinner has given up all year. He’s into reverse VH early, but gets caught with his stick on the post while not squared up to the puck. This lets the Danil Gushchin goal ramp up his stick and get caught in the hole below his glove on top of the pad and slide in. It didn’t help that Skinner missed his mark with the skate on the post, which would normally have his toe box or skate blade rather than the shin of his pad.
Foegele’s second of the night
Draisaitl feeds Nugent-Hopkins for the tip on the shot pass, where Cooley is able to make a good first save. The problem is that his weight comes back as he slides, allowing the puck to squeak through his pads enough for Foegele to tap it in on the back side.
Another goal for Edmonton
Cooley starts the sequence off with a great blocker save on Holloway, who eventually makes a slot line pass across to Bouchard. Cooley slides across and tries to grab an edge to stay on the angle, but has too much forward momentum to push back the other way. He almost makes a save due to the good rotation, but the puck redirects off his stick and into the open net.
Edmonton’s seventh goal
The Oilers eighth goal
Hyman and Henrique make good consecutive passes off the rush despite some decent coverage. The latter makes the final pass to the net front, where Cody Ceci is able to tip it in. Cooley was late to set and recognize the second pass, so he opens up on the tip that beats him despite being directed towards the centre of the net.
Edmonton’s last goal
McDavid and Hyman get a two-on-one off a Nurse stretch pass. McDavid out waits the Sharks defenceman before he finds Hyman on the cross ice pass for his 100th assist. The play’s in tight but Romanov doesn’t get any rotation towards the back post so once Hyman gets past his toe it’s an open net.
San Jose tries to stay in it
The Sharks get a two-on-one, with Mikael Granlund waiting out Brett Kulak pulling it to the middle for an uncontested shot on goal. Skinner makes the save, but it goes off Fabian Zetterlund and Nugent-Hopkins on the short side, leaving the rebound up for grabs. Kulak’s clear goes off of Eklund before Zetterlund finally wacks it home as Skinner is reaching back.
Summary
This game was boys against men. The shots were 39 to 21 but that probably flatters the Sharks, who allowed high danger chances with ease all night. Devin Cooley and Georgi Romanov were outmatched against the Oilers high powered offence, who was chasing historic totals for their top players all night. Skinner gave up the horrible first goal, but was decent besides that, with a couple high danger saves to keep the Sharks in check.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
