The Sharks picked up a point in Edmonton but lost in overtime to drop their fifth straight game. Facing former head coach Todd McLellan for the first time since parting ways on April 20, San Jose came back from two deficits and led for a brief time in the third period, but it wasn’t enough to come away with a win.
The first ten minutes featured some back-and-forth action but not much in the way of chances for either team. The Sharks and Oilers traded power play opportunities after that, but both teams came up empty. San Jose managed two shots in its two minutes on the man advantage, neither one coming particularly close to beating Anders Nilsson, and Martin Jones made several nice saves to keep Edmonton off the board with Joe Thornton sitting in the penalty box.
Brenden Dillen and Jujhar Kaira went to the dressing room with fighting majors a minute before the period ended. The Sharks’ best chance of the period came off a faceoff about forty seconds later, but Nilsson stopped Brent Burns and the game remained scoreless heading into the first intermission.
The Oilers broke the scoreless tie six and a half minutes into the second when all three Sharks first liners went to the bench for a change and Leon Draisaitl skated in alone to beat Jones. The Sharks had a chance to respond after Mike Brown and Luke Gazdik took seats in the penalty box for the game’s second fight and Darnell Nurse took a delay of game penalty, but their second power play opportunity was also unsuccessful. Shots were 21–13 and shot attempts were 37–24 in favor of the Sharks after two periods, but the only number that mattered was all Oilers.
The third started with the Sharks down a goal but, more ominously, down a man on the bench as well. Logan Couture, playing just his second game since coming back from a fractured fibula suffered on October 16, didn’t come out of the dressing room after the second intermission, and the Sharks announced that he was being evaluated and was questionable to return. With Tomas Hertl playing on the second line in his place, the Sharks evened the score four minutes into the period on Justin Braun’s first goal since December 6 of last year.
Shorks goal pic.twitter.com/LchztT0kZy
— Stephanie (@myregularface) December 10, 2015
The tie didn’t last for long as Kaira carried the puck around the back of the net and Jordan Eberle backhanded it home. Pete DeBoer used his coach’s challenge to see if Ryan Nugent-Hopkins interfered with Jones on the goal, but the situation room upheld the call on the ice to give the Oilers a 2–1 lead.
Facing the prospect of losing a fifth straight game, Patrick Marleau tied the game up again for San Jose at 11:07 on a nifty pass from Tomas Hertl…
Marleau goal pic.twitter.com/GTMsaOl8fW
— Stephanie (@myregularface) December 10, 2015
…and ninety seconds later, Joe Pavelski tipped in (Pavelskian™) Joonas Donskoi’s shot to give the Sharks the lead. The league took an extra look at the goal to see if Pavelski kicked it in, but the call on the ice stood to give San Jose its first lead in the month of December.
Pavelski goal reviewed to see if it was directed in with his leg, but it goes in off of his stick pic.twitter.com/RaXi3wm9Cw
— Stephanie (@myregularface) December 10, 2015
Four goals in the third period weren’t enough, however. With the Sharks trying to hold onto the lead and end their losing streak, Iiro Pakarinen fired a shot from the circle to Jones’ right that beat the Sharks’ goaltender and tied the game once again.
The Sharks got a chance to retake the lead when Taylor Hall shot the puck over the glass with 3:53 left in regulation, but they were unable to convert on the power play and the game went to 3-on-3 overtime tied 3–3. That was enough to give the Sharks a point, but that was all they’d get as Hall scored with just over a minute left in the extra period to send San Jose home with just one point on its two-game swing through Alberta.
Sharks goals: Justin Braun (Patrick Marleau, Joel Ward), Patrick Marleau (Tomas Hertl, Justin Braun), Joe Pavelski (Joonas Donskoi, Brent Burns)
The NHL site and hockeystats.ca were all wonky, so there are no boxscore links tonight. Sorry about that.
Fear the Fin’s Three Stars
1) Taylor Hall
2) Patrick Marleau
3) Joe Pavelski
As many of you know, Fear the Fin is an independent site run by Sharks fans for Sharks fans. Help keep Fear the Fin independent by contributing to our