If there is one thing that can be taken away from the past two plus months of play by our infuriating Los Tiburones, it’s that they have none chance against bad teams. Sabres, Coyotes, Blue Jackets, Panthers… It was inevitable that the Oilers would join this most impressive list. That they were coming into the game with an 11 game losing streak and zero wins against the Western Conference? Well, the game barely needed to be played.
If there’s one thing that I know for certain, it’s that the Edmonton Oilers will end their losing streak against the San Jose Sharks.
— SJ (@stace_ofbase) November 29, 2014
Already resigned to the fact that the Sharks are gonna be the team to end Edmonton’s losing streak. It’s inevitable.
— Fear The Fin (@fearthefin) December 4, 2014
As has been the trend, the Sharks allowed the first goal of the game as Yakupov breaks a 10 game scoring slump. Braun had fallen on Stalock – who had not started in over a month thanks to an unfortunate surgery – and Nail Yakupov had an open net to shoot. The game winner came on a David Perron wrister which seemed to bounce of Logan Couture and Brendan Dillon. Dillon, it should be reminded, was playing his first game in front of Stalock.
In between those goals, Tye “brother of FTF’s favorite son” McGinn scored his first goal as a San Jose Shark, off of an absolute gorgeous backhand pass by Patrick Marleau. If the results were different, that pass would be the discussion of the night. Instead, we get to talk about how the Sharks somehow suck against the dregs of the league.
[Fancy Stats] – [Flames Reaction]
[Event Summary] – [PBP Log] – [TOI Log] – [Faceoff Report]
- Two shots in the first period probably didn’t help the Sharks at all, if you think about it.
- The Oilers seemed like a better team for most of the game. Played hard, were outworking the Sharks on the boards and to the pucks, and at one point were outshooting the Sharks 6-0. Can’t say they didn’t deserve this win.
- But there were still moments where it was very obvious Oilers. Like a 3-on-1 defended by Scott Hannan that only managed a harmless shot wide. And that whole attempt at scoring on the empty net at the end of the game thing. And the ice repair that never ended (though that’s not really the Oilers, I guess).
- Tommy Wingels, though held off the score sheet tonight, still made and impact and was buzzing all around the ice. He and Patrick Marleau were two of the best forwards out there, and he certainly spread his legend through his massive hit in the first period. Once Matt Nieto is healthy again, I would love to see how the three of them work as a line.
- Mark Arcobello started 0% of his shifts in the offensive zone, while Steve Pinizzotto started all of them there. They had almost the same even-strength Corsi %. Just one of those interesting number things.
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Sharks have now lost to the Oilers, Coyotes, Blue Jackets (x2), Panthers (x2), and Sabres (x2). They’re 14-4-2 against the rest of the NHL.
— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) December 8, 2014
FTF Three Stars
1st Star: Nail Yakupov
2nd Star: Patrick Marleau
3rd Star: Ben Scrivens
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