The San Jose Sharks came off the Olympic break under the L.A. Kings in the standings, with 58 points. They knew going into their first game back that these next five games would be critical to their chances of making the playoffs this year. Unfortunately, they lost 1-4 to Calgary on Thursday, robbing them of a much needed two points.
Saturday, Feb. 28, was their chance to turn things around against the Edmonton Oilers. The Sharks played the Oilers in Edmonton on Jan. 29 and led 3-0 for most of the game. However, the Oilers pulled out a come-from-behind win and took it in overtime, 4-3. This game marked the beginning of a five-game-losing streak for San Jose and they had hopes of breaking it that afternoon.
Facing Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl is no easy feat, but Edmonton has sub-par defense and recently questionable goaltending, so there was a chance, from the beginning, that the Sharks could muster up a win. San Jose struck first just eight minutes into the opening period. Macklin Celebrini spotted Edmonton goalie Connor Ingram out of his crease, retrieving his stick, and he launched a shot from the blue line that hit the back of the net. Will Smith got the only assist on Celebrini’s goal.
Less than three minutes later, San Jose went on the power play after a hook on William Eklund, and 19-year-0ld rookie Michael Misa scored with an assist from Tyler Toffoli, putting the Sharks up 2-0. However, the Oilers never give up that easily, especially the aforementioned Draisaitl, who scored a power play goal almost 15 minutes into the game. This cut the Sharks lead in half, but with only three minutes remaining, Barclay Goodrow buried a rebound into the back of the net for the third San Jose goal.
After the 1st intermission, things cooled down for both teams. The lone goal of the second period belonged to Evan Bouchard of the Edmonton Oilers, assisted by McDavid. Celebrini drew a penalty from Kasperi Kapanen, who stopped a sure scoring chance for Celebrini. Celebrini is second in the league for penalties drawn, under only McDavid. Unfortunately, the Sharks weren’t able to converge on their advantage and the score sat at 3-2.
From this point forward, Edmonton and San Jose were playing ping-pong with points, trading goals. Trent Frederic tied it up for Edmonton just two minutes into the second period. Less than two minutes later, Alex Wennberg scored to put San Jose up 4-3. Then came Jake Walman to even things out for Edmonton, assisted by McDavid, but Shakir Mukhamadullin, the big man from Russia, buried a one-timer from the blue line, which ended up being the game-winner for San Jose in a 5-4 regulation victory.
The Sharks didn’t get a break, though, and the next day Celebrini and Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets rematched after their Olympic Gold Medal face-off. Yaroslav Askarov got the start in-net for both games against Calgary and Edmonton, but Alex Nedeljkovic got the start on Sunday. Just two minutes into the game, Morgan Barron scored for Winnipeg, putting the Jets up 1-0.
The second period proved to be inactive, with no goals scored and no changes to the stats. Then, just one minute into the third period, San Jose Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky decided to put Colin Graf on the Smith-Celebrini line and it was a great choice, as all three of them contributed to a game-tying goal for San Jose, scored by Smith. That was the only goal to come in the third, however, and the game went to overtime. The first OT group was unable to get much going but the second unit made it happen, as Misa scored his first OT winner in his NHL career.
The Sharks picked up a graceful four points this weekend that tie them with Los Angeles at 62 points. As of right now, they’re just three points out from a wildcard spot, under only the Seattle Kraken. If San Jose can win their next two games against Montreal and St. Louis, their playoff hopes may not be pipe dreams.
