Following an impressive win on Tuesday, the Edmonton Oilers return to the ice tonight to host the San Jose Sharks in the fifth and final meeting between the sides this season. This will also be Edmonton’s final home game of the season, while the Sharks open a two game road trip.
The Oilers will be without F’s Boyd Gordon, Matt Hendricks and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tonight, along with D’s Mark Fayne, Nikita Nikitin and Andrew Ference. Meanwhile, the Sharks will be entering this game with a relatively healthy roster.
Laurent Brossoit makes his first career NHL start tonight for Edmonton, while Alex Stalock starts for San Jose.
Last Games:
Edmonton: The Oilers last took the ice on Tuesday night as they hosted a desperate Los Angeles team at Rexall Place. The sides played a relatively even first period, with Edmonton showing the Kings that they would not get pushed around again. Both Keith Aulie and Matt Fraser threw big, message sending hits early.
The scoring would be opened up 2:34 into the middle frame, as Matt Fraser pounced on a juicy rebound off of Martin Jones. The Kings would turn the heat up however, and tie the game on the power-play thanks to a Jake Muzzin goal in close at the 5:44 mark. Edmonton would keep it’s composure however, and retake the lead as Benoit Pouliot stole a pass and put it top-shelf past Jones 10:09 in.
Edmonton would get insurance thanks to a Tyler Pitlick goal 5:31 into the game, and that would be it. Drew Doughty would score a fluke goal from center ice 9:38 in, but Richard Bachman would shut the door from there and Matt Fraser would seal the deal with an empty net goal, with the deal being a 4-2 Oiler win.
San Jose: The Sharks last played on Monday night, when they were manhandled on home ice by the visiting Dallas Stars. Dallas would open things up with a Colton Sceviour marker just 28 seconds in, then add an insurance marker compliments Patrick Eaves at the 17:32 mark to take total control.
Jamie Benn and Joe Thornton would trade power-play markers in the second period, but it really meant nothing as the Stars smothered San Jose the rest of the night.
Benn would add his second goal 15:08 into the third, while Ryan Garbutt would put the salt in the wound moments later. Jhonas Enroth would stop 23 Shark shots to seal the dominating 5-1 Dallas victory.
Last Meeting:
The Oilers and Sharks last met back in February at the Shark tank in a pretty close match-up. Edmonton came out firing early, but couldn’t solve Antti Niemi, who stopped 15 first period shots. Joe Pavelski would score the game’s first goal 11:50 in, but Edmonton didn’t quit. Jordan Eberle solved Niemi 18:03 in to tie things.
Eberle would add another tally just 22 seconds into the middle frame, while Derek Roy would score off of a Nail Yakupov feed 9:39 into the second period, putting Edmonton up by a pair. The Sharks didn’t die however, in fact they took over.
Scott Hannan, Matt Tennyson and Joe Pavelski all scored within the first 9:28 of the third to give the Sharks a lead, but it was short lived, as Justin Schultz tied things with just over two minutes to play.
OT solved nothing, forcing the sides to a shoot-out. Brent Burns would score in the 5th round, but so wouldn’t Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, keeping the marathon going all the way to the 13th round, where Rob Klinkhammer would score to give Edmonton a 5-4 victory.
Keys To The Game:
Edmonton: Keep the shots to the outside. Laurent Brossoit is in his first NHL game, and can’t be left out to dry tonight. The best way to prevent that is to make it tough for the Sharks to storm the slot, and force them to shoot from places like the point. If Edmonton can do that, they’ll likely get a solid goaltending performance and a good chance to win.
San Jose: Assert yourself physically tonight. The Sharks have some big players who are also very skilled. If they can use their size on Edmonton’s weak and inexperienced defense, then they’ll be able to generate some real chances and probably light the lamp quite a bit.
Players To Watch:
Edmonton: F Curtis Hamilton has a decision, either board the last train to Paris, or go home. Hamilton has had a good AHL season, but needs to show something here tonight. He’s a RFA this summer, and is likely playing to prove he belongs. I know it’s only one night, but he needs to look good out there. I’ll be watching him closely.
San Jose: F Joe Thornton takes a lot of heat, but he has quietly put together a very solid season. Thornton is still an elite play-making center in this league, and is still one of the dominant forces down the middle. Jumbo Joe usually torments the Oilers, and I would suspect that it continues tonight with another strong effort. I’ll be watching this under-appreciated giant.
Quick Hits:
The Oilers are 4-3-0 in their last seven contests, including a 3-1 record on home ice. The San Jose Sharks will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2002-03 NHL season, ending one of the NHL’s longest playoff streaks. F Curtis Hamilton and G Laurent Brossoit are making their NHL debuts tonight for Edmonton, while F Bryan Lerg makes his for San Jose. Sharks F Joe Pavelski leads the team with 69 points in 80 games.
The Lines:
Edmonton Oilers Lines:
Benoit Pouliot – Taylor Hall – Jordan Eberle
Teddy Purcell – Derek Roy – Nail Yakupov
Matt Fraser – Anton Lander – Tyler Pitlick
Luke Gazdic – Rob Klinkhammer – Curtis Hamilton
Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz
Martin Marincin – David Musil
Brandon Davidson – Keith Aulie
Laurent Brossoit
San Jose Sharks Lines:
Joe Pavelski – Joe Thornton – Melker Karlsson
Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Tomas Hertl
Matt Nieto – Chris Tierney – Tommy Wingles
Mike Brown – Ben Smith – Bryan Lerg
Brenden Dillon – Justin Braun
Karl Stollery – Brent Burns
Matt Irwin – Taylor Fedun
Alex Stalock
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