SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - San Jose hit rock bottom early in its six-game homestand. The Sharks closed it out with two of their most impressive wins.
Tomas Hertl scored and extended his point streak to four games on his 26th birthday, Evander Kane added his team-leading 11th goal of the season and the Sharks beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-3 on Tuesday night.
“I couldn’t get a better birthday present than a huge win over Edmonton,” the native of the Czech Republic said.
Brent Burns, Patrick Marleau, Barclay Goodrow and Timo Meier scored as San Jose matched its season-high goal total. Erik Karlsson had three assists as the Sharks (8-10-1) wrapped up their homestand with their fourth straight victory after losing seven of eight.
“I think it’s about the whole team sticking together, everybody getting pluses and playing right,” Hertl said. “It’s not just one guy. We have to help each other.”
NHL points leader Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist, extending his points streak to 10 games, and Zack Kassian and Sam Gagner each added a goal for Pacific Division-leading Edmonton (12-6-2).
“I think we weren’t ready,” Draisaitl said.
“Obviously, they are really strong here at home. Everyone knows that coming here. Ding dong, we were down 3-0 in this building. Was kind of a shock to us. We just played real sloppy tonight. We didn’t make the right decisions with the puck. It’s never good to have games like that.”
The Sharks led early when Burns scored his fourth goal just under four minutes into the game on a powerful wrist shot from the top of the face-off circle that ricocheted into the goal off the top of the post.
The Sharks extended their lead to 2-0 when Kane scored off a rebound of a shot by Brenden Dillon just outside the crease.
Marleau redirected a shot by Tim Heed from just inside the blue line for his fourth goal midway through the second to give the Sharks a 3-0 lead. San Jose extended that lead when Goodrow scored at 1:26 of the second.
Edmonton closed within 4-1 midway through the second on Draisaitl’s 15th goal, a wrist shot from just inside the blue line.
Hertl scored his eighth goal late in the second. He has seven points (four goals, three assists) over his last four games.
Meier scored his fifth goal for San Jose midway through the third, and Gagner scored with just under eight minutes left, pulling Edmonton within 6-3.
“We needed a win tonight,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “We’ve been putting a lot of effort into our team game and it’s important to see results from that.”
The Sharks, who reached the Western Conference finals last season fell to 4-10-1 after a dispiriting 5-2 home loss to Vancouver on Nov. 2.
“I saw a team that was desperate and trying to get back in the race and a team that was content where they are at, usually the desperate team wins those games,” Oilers coach Davie Tippett said. “The loss showed a little bit of the immaturity of our group to sustain things and the immaturity of trying to become a real good team. But we’re not there yet, you know, real good teams go out there when all else fails and are able to recognize the situation and then compete hard. We didn’t compete hard, we got out-competed by a desperate team.”
NOTES: Edmonton activated F Joakim Nygard off injured reserve. Nygard missed four weeks with a rib injury. … C Gagner was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch the last two games. … C Connor McDavid had an assist on Kassian’s goal to extend his point streak to five games. He has five goals and three assists over that stretch. … Edmonton is 3-5-1 when its opponent scores first. … Sharks D Dalton Prout was assigned to the San Jose Barracuda, the team’s AHL affiliate, on a conditioning assignment. Prout hasn’t played since suffering an upper body injury in the team’s season opener on Oct. 2.
UP NEXT
Oilers: Host Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.
Sharks: At Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.
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