The Edmonton Oilers continued their final road trip of the season on Thursday night (April 3) when they faced off against the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. These two teams have faced off just once so far this season, with the Oilers coming away with a 3-2 overtime victory. They will play each other two more times after this before the end of the season.
Related: Projected Lineups for the Oilers vs Sharks — 04/03/25
Edmonton rolled into this one in third place in the Pacific Division with 91 points and a 6-3-1 record in their previous 10 games. They continue to jostle for position within the division for a higher playoff seeding.
The Sharks came into this one down in eighth place in the Pacific Division. They sat at 50 points and a 3-6-1 record in their last 10 games. They came in with hopes of snapping a three-game losing skid.
The Oilers won this one by a score of 3-2. Here’s your game recap.
Game Recap
After not much action in the first six minutes of the game, it was Connor Brown who burst into the San Jose zone and rifled a shot past goaltender Georgi Romanov for an early Oilers lead. However, it was just over two minutes later that the Sharks found the equalizer off the stick of Jack Thompson, his fourth of the season. The remaining 11:50 of the period was spent with both teams trading chances and playing some tight checking, penalty-free hockey. It was 1-1 at the intermission, with the shots 13-11 in favour of the Sharks.
The second period started with an Oilers power play goal just three minutes in, courtesy of a Viktor Arvidsson slapshot from the top of the slot. That made it goals in three straight for him. Then, after a few solid Sharks chances, Tyler Toffoli converted a sweet feed from Mario Ferraro to tie it back up. However, just as San Jose was gaining some momentum, Carl Grundstrom took a costly hooking penalty to settle things down. Both Romanov and Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard made some spectacular saves to keep the game as close as it was. It should also be noted that Leon Draisaitl exited the game during the middle frame in some sort of discomfort. He was later ruled out for the rest of the game. Finally, late in the period, it was Jeff Skinner who tipped home an Evan Bouchard floater for his 15th of the season. An action-filled period ended with Edmonton out front 3-2, with the shots also in their favour, 28-22.
The final period saw some strong defensive play from the Oilers as they clung to a one-goal lead. The Sharks registered just two shots halfway through the period and seven altogether. San Jose pulled their goalie with 2:45 left to play and sent everything they had at Pickard and the Oilers, but they stood tall to secure their third-straight victory. The final score was 3-2, with the shots in favour of Edmonton 38-29.
In a fairly quiet game overall, there were a few great performances. Evan Bouchard picked up his second-straight game with two assists, while Jeff Skinner registered the game-winning goal and an assist. And despite the loss, Romanov made 35 saves for the Sharks and had them in it the whole game.
The Oilers’ next game will be on Saturday, April 5, a pivotal matchup against their rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, at Crypto.com Arena at 2 p.m. MDT.
The Sharks’ next game is also on Saturday, April 5, when they play host to the team right above them in the Pacific Division, the Seattle Kraken. That game is slated for 8 p.m. MDT.
