Happy (belated) St. Patrick’s Day, everyone! On this occasion, the Edmonton Oilers took on the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place. Teal does count as a shade of green if you consider it a mixture of green and blue. However, it was the Oilers’ home game, and they wouldn’t be so willing to give the Sharks a pot of gold on this night. Let’s get into the Edmonton Oilers vs San Jose Sharks game recap:
It was almost like the Hockey Gods had to lead the Oilers to water, in a way. After floundering standings-wise most of the season, the Oilers learned Leon Draisaitl was ruled out for the rest of the regular season slate. They would have no choice but to up their game if they wanted to beat a young, hungry Sharks team hunting a wild-card spot.
The funniest thing happened: The Oilers upped their game and got serviceable goaltending. Even better, Connor McDavid didn’t have to carry the team in Draisaitl’s absence. This was the equivalent of the Bikini Bottom Marching Band performing “Sweet Victory” as Squidward conducts with teary eyes.
Oilers win 5–3.
Given the standings implications between both teams, on top of the division rivalry, this was a robust performance. Still not perfect, per se, but more than enough to get the job done. Here’s the game story.
Depth scoring was key to this win
For this night’s game, the focus was rightfully placed on defending better, as noted during our first edition of “Rig Ready”. Though this observer did say that “it would be nice if the depth could chip in more often, if the Oilers could get some more balanced goal-scoring throughout the lineup.”
Prophecy? Not so much as it was wishful thinking, yet somehow, it was spoken into existence. The first sign this game was going to be built differently was when Connor Murphy unleashed a shot from as far out as Leduc, and it somehow snuck its way through traffic and in to give the Oilers a 2–1 lead. They don’t ask you how; they ask you how many, and Connor Murphy probably never complains about scoring.
Max Jones had one goal all year before last night, and it came on December 29 against the Winnipeg Jets. He has spent over half the season out in Bakersfield, waiting for another chance. Pressed into action on this night, he got a goal by doing something this observer has begged for all year. Just go to the area around the net-front, and good things are bound to happen. Adam Henrique also got the second of his two assists on the night on this goal; Jack Michaels mentioned on the TV broadcast that he had just one point in his previous 23 games. The monkey’s off the back for sure with this kind of outing.
Jones and Murphy are far from talented goal-scorers. But sometimes, you need goals from where you least expect them. Without their efforts, this is a 3–3 game that risks running the same fate as four nights prior. Their efforts helped the Oilers win a game that, at times, they were on their heels in.
The top dogs did still show up on the scoresheet
Not to be outdone, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got the Oilers’ goal-scoring ledger opened up. Power play tally, nothing overly fancy, standard Nuge fare. However, he will be a player to watch in the final 13 games of the regular season. Remember last year, when both McDavid and Draisaitl were out, he picked up a hat-trick against the Seattle Kraken? Nugent-Hopkins has a special “extra gear” he seemingly reserves for when either player goes down.
Vasily Podkolzin has done enough to be considered a legitimate top-six player by this point. He continued to prove it with this fantastic wrist shot to make it a 3–1 Oilers lead. Even without Draisaitl, Podkolzin has been phenomenal this season. It appears that, even if he and Kasperi Kapanen have to have Jason Dickinson as their centreman, they’ll continue to realize their potential.
And capping it all off, Zach Hyman followed Jones’s example. Go to the net-front, and good things are bound to happen! You’re going to need these greasier kinds of goals come playoff time.
Amidst it all, McDavid only registered a single primary assist on Nugent-Hopkins’s goal. But that’s the beauty of a game like this: They didn’t need McDavid to go god-mode. It should be the occasional deciding factor, not the crutch to grant this team free wins. Tonight, the team played like it.
The goaltending just needed to be respectable, and it was
Two stats have been going around as of late that detail just how important regular goaltending is to any team, let alone one as prone to defensive lapses as the Oilers. One, Edmonton has been dynamite on the season when getting .900 goaltending. Two, Connor Ingram entered 5–0–1 in his last six starts. That, by the way, is with seemingly more help in front of him than most Oilers goalies of the last few years have been afforded the luxury of.
In this game, we saw more of the same from Ingram that we have recently. He made the saves he needed to make and kept the game tied at 3–3 when the Sharks pressed for the lead. He gave the Oilers the advantage in net over an outmatched Alex Nedeljkovic at the other end.
The final stat line for Ingram reads 27 saves on 30 shots, for a dead-even .900 save percentage. And because, as opposed to the past three games, the Oilers scored more than two or three times, .900 was all they needed behind them. That is exactly how it should be with this team. And the newly anointed starter continues to deliver the goods.
Even without Draisaitl, can the Oilers keep winning?
That’s two wins in a row, with Draisaitl being present for only one period in that span. The real question now lies in the Oilers getting to three in a row. The only time they’ve done that this season, they needed a heroic comeback against these same Sharks to make that happen. The Florida Panthers are up next.
The Panthers are significantly banged up this year, and just lost 5–2 to the lowly Vancouver Canucks last night. If the Oilers are serious about going far in this year’s playoffs, Thursday night’s game is a must-win. Make the Cats continue to suffer, just like you did earlier in the season.
