EDMONTON - David Perron scored the game winner midway through the third period as the Edmonton Oilers snapped a dreadful 11-game losing skid, getting past the San Jose Sharks 2-1 on Sunday.
Nail Yakupov also scored for the Oilers (7-15-5), who won at home for the first time in nine contests.
Edmonton capture just its first win against a fellow Western Conference opponent— improving to 1-12-4 in that category.
Tye McGinn scored in response for the Sharks (14-11-4), who had a four-game winning streak halted.
There was no scoring in a relatively sedate first period, the lone highlight from which was a crushing hit by Sharks forward Tommy Wingels on Oilers rookie Tyler Pitlick.
Edmonton was the better team in the opening frame, putting 11 shots on Sharks goalie Alex Stalock, while San Jose only had two shots on Oilers starter Ben Scrivens.
The Oilers broke the deadlock eight minutes into the second period on a power-play goal. Sharks defender Justin Braun lost his footing and landed on Stalock's back as he was out of the crease trying to corral a puck, allowing Jordan Eberle to send the puck in front to Yakupov, who scored just his fourth of the season on the wide-open net.
San Jose tied the game two minutes later as Patrick Marleau out-hustled the Oiler defence to negate an icing call before making a nifty no-look backhand pass to an undefended McGinn, who beat Scrivens with a quick one-timer for his first of the season.
The Oilers caught a break just past the midway point of the third period to take a 2-1 lead. After sustained pressure in the Sharks' zone, Perron through a puck towards the net that deflected off the leg of San Jose defender Brenden Dillon and past a surprised Stalock. It was Perron's fourth goal of the season.
San Jose poured it on late, but the Oilers clamped down and Scrivens stood tall, ending up with 20 saves on the night.
The Oilers and Sharks play a rematch in San Jose on Tuesday.
Notes: It was the first of five games this season between the Sharks and the Oilers, three of them are scheduled in December. The Sharks won four of five games against the Oilers last season recording 18 goals in those four victories. Edmonton's lone win came when goalie Ben Scrivens recorded a record 59 saves in a shutout win… San Jose forward Patrick Marleau had 26 points in his previous 22 meetings with the Oilers, scoring four goals and setting up two more against them last season… Stalock made his first start in the San Jose net since Nov. 8 because of a knee injury… Out with injuries for the Oilers were forwards Benoit Pouliot (foot) and Matt Hendricks (leg) and defenceman Nikita Nikitin (back)… Absent from the Sharks lineup were Troy Grosenick (upper body), Raffi Torres (knee), Matt Nieto (lower body) and Tyler Kennedy (arm).