The Edmonton Oilers are on a three-game winning streak after defeating the San Jose Sharks 3-2 at SAP Center in San Jose on Thursday (April 3).
Related: Oilers Edge Out Sharks 3-2 on the Road Despite Losing Draisaitl to Injury Again
Viktor Arvidsson, Connor Brown and Jeff Skinner scored for Edmonton, while the Sharks got one goal each from Jack Thompson and Tyler Toffoli.
Edmonton’s Calvin Pickard stopped 27 shots to pick up his career-high 20th win of the season. The Oilers fired 38 shots at Sharks goalie Georgi Romanov, who made 35 saves.
The game was tightly contested from start to finish, with the teams deadlocked at one goal apiece through 20 minutes before Edmonton took a 3-2 lead into the second intermission. While the Oilers didn’t trail at any point in the game, they also never held a lead of more than one goal.
The Oilers improve to 44-26-5 for 93 points, third most in the Pacific Division. The Sharks drop to 20-45-10 for 50 points, fewest in the NHL. The teams will play two more times before the end of the regular season, April 11 at Rogers Place and April 18 back in San Jose.
Oilers Keep Pace
This was a critical win for the Oilers, especially given what was happening on the out-of-town scoreboard, as the Los Angeles Kings beat Utah HC by a score of 4-2 and the Winnipeg Jets blanked the Vegas Golden Knights 4-0.
Following Thursday’s results, Edmonton remains two points back of Los Angeles (43-23-9 for 95 points) for second place in the Pacific Division, while both teams gain ground on the division-leading Vegas Golden Knights (45-22-8 for 98 points).
The team that finishes first in the Pacific will face off against a wild-card team, likely either the Minnesota Wild or St. Louis Blues, in Round 1 of the Western Conference playoffs, while the Pacific’s second and third-place teams will play each other in the first round.
Pickard Stepping Up
Pickard got his fourth consecutive start in goal for the Oilers, as he continues to hold the fort while Edmonton’s No. 1 netminder Stuart Skinner recovers from a concussion.
The 31-year-old was also in the crease for Edmonton’s 3-2 road win against Vegas on Tuesday (April 1) and the Oilers’ 3-2 overtime triumph over the Calgary Flames at Rogers Place last Saturday (March 29), but Thursday’s performance was probably his best over these last three wins for Edmonton.
After Toffoli scored at 8:48 of the second period, tying the game at 2-2, Pickard shut the door for the remaining half of the game. He absolutely robbed Sharks Collin Graf on the doorstep at 19:04 of the third period, preserving victory for the Oilers.
With Pickard reaching 20 wins, he and Stuart Skinner (who has 24 wins) become just the third goaltending duo to each get at least 20 wins in the same season for the Oilers. Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog each reached 20 wins for four consecutive seasons from 1983-84 to 1986-87, while Skinner and Jack Campbell both topped 20 victories in 2022-23.
Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said Thursday that while Stuart Skinner is improving, the 26-year-old goalie hasn’t resumed skating yet.
Draisaitl Leaves Game
It’s not just between the pipes where the Oilers are being affected by injury. Already without the services of superstar captain Connor McDavid and top-pairing defenceman Mattias Ekholm, Edmonton lost another elite skater to injury on Thursday when NHL-leading goal scorer Leon Draisaitl exited the game during the second period.
After falling awkwardly, Draisaitl gingerly skated to the Oilers bench before leaving for the dressing room, not to return. The game was tied 2-2 at the time of Draisaitl’s departure.
Following the game, Knoblauch said he had no update on the condition of Draisaitl. While Edmonton fans began fearing the worst when Draisaitl didn’t return, the Oilers may have just been exercising extreme caution. Given they’re already down McDavid, the last thing the Oilers want to do is risk anything serious happening to Draisaitl. Especially against a last-place Sharks team that Edmonton should be able to beat anyway, which the Oilers did, thanks to Jeff Skinner scoring late in the second period.
Kings up Next
Whether Draisaitl misses any action remains to be seen, but if there’s one game the Oilers would absolutely want him in the lineup for, it would be their next contest, Saturday (April 5) afternoon against the Kings at Crypto.com Arena.
The stakes will be massive for that matinee matchup: with a regulation win, Edmonton would pull into a tie with the Kings for second place in the Pacific; with a regulation loss, the Oilers would fall four points back of Los Angeles with just six games to play in the regular season.
