San Jose Sharks victorious over Edmonton Oilers
The San Jose Sharks and the Edmonton Oilers met for the second time this season on Saturday 27 November. The Sharks won the first meeting by a score of 6-1 and it appeared that they were
on their way to another victory as they had a 4-1 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game. However, the Oilers did not give up, scoring twice in the third period to bring them within one goal of tying the game. In the end, the Oilers could not
overcome the three-goal deficit and the Sharks took the win by the score of 4-3.
The Sharks struck quickly, scoring at the 1:10 mark of the first period. Benn Ferriero gave the Sharks the 1-0 lead with his first goal of the season. The Sharks’ Justin Braun fired a
shot from the point that was blocked by Oilers goaltender Devan Dubnyk. Dubnyk was unable to control the rebound and Ferriero backhanded the puck into the net.
Sam Gagner of the Oilers tied the score at one a little more than two minutes later when he scored on the power play. Gagner’s original shot was stopped by Sharks’ goalie Antero Niittymaki,
but Gagner stayed with the rebound and scored his sixth goal of the season.
The score remained knotted at one until early in the second period when the Sharks Dany Heatley scored on the power play, firing a one-timer past Dubnyk. Heatley would give the Sharks
a 3-1 lead later in the period, when his centring pass attempt ricocheted off the skate of Dubnyk and into the Oilers’ net.
The Sharks would carry the 3-1 lead into the third period. They would make the score 4-1 at the 9:02 mark of the final stanza when Joe Pavelski rushed the Edmonton net, picked up the loose
puck and buried a snap shot into the Edmonton goal.
The Sharks were then given a scare when the Oilers scored two goals in quick succession, making the score 4-3.
Shawn Horcoff struck first, sweeping in to pick up the rebound from a Jordan Eberle shot and shooting it past a diving Niittymaki. The Oilers would strike 57 seconds later when Jim Vandermeer
rocketed a one-timer behind Niittymaki.
The Oilers made a valiant attempt, but they could not rally to tie the score and fell to the Sharks by the final score of 4-3.
The Oilers may have lost the game, but they were able to take at least one positive away from the defeat: they did not quit when they fell behind. "That's the difference this year," Horcoff
told NHL.com. "We don't feel like we're out of it. We know we have the offence to do it, but we need wins and we have to focus on that."
The Sharks had to overcome some adversity of their own when they lost defencemen Niclas Wallin and Kent Huskins to injury in the first period. They finished the game with only four blueliners.
"It was a big effort by us," Heatley said. "Going down to four defencemen like we did and rallying around that, I think that's a big night for us."
The win gives the Sharks a record of 11-7-4 while the Oilers fall to 6-12-4.
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