San Jose has had no problem scoring goals and taking leads against Edmonton this season.
Holding on to those leads, however, has been another story.
The Sharks conclude a five-game road trip in Edmonton on Tuesday night against a team that will be without injured star Leon Draisaitl.
San Jose sits one point out of the Western Conference’s final wild-card spot after a 7-4 setback Sunday at Ottawa ended a two-game win streak.
“We got to continue to execute our breakouts better,” said San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky, who noted that breakouts would be the key to the Sharks’ game with Edmonton.
Mario Ferraro, Tyler Toffoli, Collin Graf and Michael Misa scored, Macklin Celebrini recorded his 60th assist of the season and Laurent Brossoit made 17 saves in his first NHL start in 23 months.
“Every team is fighting for something right now,” Graf said. “And everyone’s going to play (hard), especially the teams who are right in the thick of the playoffs.”
This is the third of four meetings with the Oilers. San Jose blew a 3-0 advantage in a 4-3 overtime defeat in Edmonton in January. The Sharks did win at home last month, 5-4, but only after surrendering 3-1 and 4-3 leads.
The Oilers are third in the Pacific Division after a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Sunday ended a two-game skid.
Connor McDavid had three assists and Connor Ingram made 26 saves as Edmonton opened a four-game homestand with two critical points.
Matthew Savoie, Zach Hyman and Draisaitl scored in Sunday’s triumph.
The Oilers said on Tuesday that they expect Draisaitl to miss the rest of the regular season because of a lower-body injury. He was on the receiving end of Nashville forward Ozzy Wiesblatt’s hit at 4:20 of the first period of Sunday’s win over the Predators. After his exit, Draisaitl did return to take two shifts at the end of the first but did not appear after that.
Draisaitl, 30, is fourth in the NHL with 97 points, including 17 (six goals, 11 assists) on a current nine-game point streak. He has a total of 35 goals and 62 assists in 65 games.
“Obviously, he’s a top-four scorer, one of the most elite players in the league, so it’s not like one guy can just step into his shoes,” forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said prior to the Oilers’ morning skate on Tuesday. “We kind of talked about it this morning; it’s a collective thing with our group that everybody’s going to need to pick up the slack.”
Draisaitl is second on the Oilers behind McDavid’s 37 goals, 77 assists and 114 points. McDavid was leading the league in points and assists, and was tied for fifth in goals entering Tuesday’s games.
–Field Level Media
