If you’re a San Jose Sharks fan and you missed last night’s game, you should count yourself lucky, because it wasn’t fun to watch. The Sharks lost to the Edmonton Oilers, 5-2. Still, you need something to talk about at the water cooler, so here’s what you missed.
Revenge of the Oilers
The Oilers were not thrilled when they left SAP Center last week. Head Coach Dave Tippett wasn’t happy with the way his team played and he challenged them to compete harder last night.
They did.
The Oilers came out buzzing in the first period. Edmonton scored the first goal of the game less than four minutes in, then added another goal four and a half minutes later. Before the Sharks knew it, it was 2-0 Oilers and San Jose had a huge hole to dig out of.
They never really did.
Final score 5-2. The loss snapped the Sharks’ six-game win streak.
Tomas Hertl left the game early
Something to keep an eye on today. Tomas Hertl left last night’s game after taking a shift with two minutes left in the third period. He went straight to the locker room.
Here’s a look at the play.
That’s Klefblom’s stick that gets Hertl, then Hertl dives for puck. He got up awkwardly, went into room early pic.twitter.com/hCSS04yQ8N
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 20, 2019
You’ll recall that Hertl left the Nov. 14 game against the Anaheim Ducks early after he appeared to injure his leg/knee. He did not miss any games following the injury, but there may have been a lingering issue.
Saves are easy when you can see them
Mikko Koskinen was in net for the Oilers last night and while he stopped 33 of the 35 shots that he faced, he didn’t have to work very hard for the win.
Kendall Coyne-Schofield mentioned during the broadcast that there wasn’t a lot of traffic in front of Koskinen. Curtis Pashelka noticed it too.
Doesn’t seem like there’s hasn’t been much, if any, traffic in front of Koskinen tonight. Just made his 31st save.
— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) November 20, 2019
Whether they were shots from the point or shots a little closer, there was nothing to distract Koskinen from making the save.
Lukas Radil had the best seat in the house
Lukas Radil has had a few shots to earn a spot with the big club, but it looks like this may be his last one for a little while. Radil played a grand total of five shifts for 5:53 of total on ice time. He was basically benched after the first period.
I would not be surprised if the forward gets sent back down to the Barracuda soon. Especially since the Sharks called up Antti Suomela yesterday.
Antti Suomela has been recalled by #SJSharks. After slow start to AHL season, Suomela has 3 goals & 5 points in his last 3 games
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 19, 2019
Oilers had better depth
In a game against Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, you try to contain the big guys and hope your depth players will carry you to victory. Turns out, all the Oilers were dangerous last night.
Markus Granlund scored the first goal of the game with helpers from Gaetan Haas and Oscar Klefbom. Jujhar Khaira scored the third goal of the game, that also happened to be the game-winning goal. In total, 11 of the Oilers had points in last night’s game.
Meanwhile, Melker Karlsson finished the night a minus-2, Radil spent most of the night on the bench and Dylan Gambrell spent a considerable amount of time sitting next to him. Joe Thornton and Marcus Sorensen were both minus-1 as well. None of them had points last night.
On the bright side…
When you read this, note the sarcasm.
At least the Sharks’ win streak when allowing two goals or fewer is still alive.
I know many of you in our message boards have expressed the same sentiment.
Looking at this game, it seems like a silly stat. Or maybe it’s a stat the coaching staff should take a cue from. When the Sharks play defense first, they tend to do better offensively and that leads to winning games.
On the not so bright side…
Last night’s loss drops the Sharks back below .500. With a record of 10-11-1, they remain seventh in the Pacific Division, one point behind the Anaheim Ducks and four points up on the Los Angeles Kings.
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