Oilers defeat Sharks for third win in four games

EDMONTON --The Edmonton Oilers won a second straight game for the third time this season when they defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-3 at Rogers Place on Monday.
Ryan Strome scored two goals, Pat Maroon and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a goal and an assist, and Leon Draisaitl had two assists for the Oilers (15-17-2), who have won three of four games. Cam Talbot made 18 saves in his second start since returning from an upper-body injury that caused him to miss seven games.

"I think we've been gaining confidence the last six games. We have been playing really good," Maroon said. "Every line is going now, every line is chipping in at the right time, and it is so good to see at this time of year. All four lines are buzzing. We have some good chemistry right now."
WATCH: [All Sharks vs. Oilers highlights]
Joe Pavelski, Tomas Hertl and Marcus Sorensen scored for the Sharks (17-11-4), who have lost two games in a row. Martin Jones made 24 saves, and defenseman Brent Burns and forward Kevin Labanc each had two assists.
"We're not as tight defensively as we have been. We've also got some guys out of the lineup who weren't out earlier in the year too," San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. "I think we did a good job on [Connor] McDavid tonight (he was held without a point). I thought the difference in the game was the depth. They got some more depth scoring than we did."
The Sharks played without center Logan Couture, who sustained a concussion in a 4-3 overtime loss at the Vancouver Canucks on Friday. Couture leads San Jose with 15 goals and 26 points.
"Other guys have got to get up and get the job done, and they didn't tonight," DeBoer said. "The fourth line got pinned in their own zone for extended periods to the point where we couldn't really play them. And then you overuse other guys, and you've got to find a way."
Pavelski scored on the power play at 6:15 of the first period to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead.
Mark Letestu tied the game 1-1 at 14:42, two seconds after a delay of game penalty against Hertl expired.

Strome put Edmonton up 2-1 at 18:51, finishing off a cross-crease pass from Draisaitl for the 10,000th goal in Oilers history.
"It was an interesting start because we had that early power play and didn't get anything with it," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "Then they score, and the penalty kill has been our nemesis and I thought we sagged a little bit there. But I thought a lot of good things were being said on our bench to overcome it to get our own non-power-play goal -- it was a second after -- and that got us our momentum back and we seem to establish it from there and play well."
Nugent-Hopkins gave the Oilers a 3-1 lead at 6:36 of the second period when his centering pass for Drake Caggiula went in off Pavelski's stick.
Hertl scored at 8:32 to cut the Edmonton lead to 3-2 on a shot from the slot.
Maroon scored at 8:23 of the third period to give the Oilers a 4-2 lead, but Sorensen made it 4-3 at 11:58, avoiding a poke check from Talbot before scoring on his backhand.
Strome scored into an empty net with 7.6 seconds left to make it 5-3.
"Winning at home was important," Strome said. "We were resilient. We have gotten the ship slowly going in the right direction the last eight or nine games. We have to keep it going. Obviously, the divisional games are very important. We have a lot of those in the second half, and this is a good start."

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Goal of the game

Strome's goal at 18:51 of the first period.

Save of the game

Talbot stopping Labanc at 5:15 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Maroon's goal at 8:23 of the third period.

They said it

"We just lost a bit of momentum at times. I think it was a game that always felt like it was right there, but we were just a step slow or execution was off just a little bit -- too many odd-man rushes. It was a game that felt like it was there for us." -- Sharks captain Joe Pavelski
"It was one of those things where it was just in my face and I decided to pull his beard. I thought he was going to be mad at first, but he said, 'Hey, do you like the beard?' and I said, 'Yeah, it's a pretty nice beard.'" -- Oilers forward Pat Maroon on pulling Sharks defenseman Brent Burns' beard in the second period

Need to know

Defenseman Adam Larsson had a game-high five hits in 21:55 in his return to the Oilers lineup after missing eight games with an upper-body injury. ... The Oilers had alternated losses and wins their previous eight games. They won 3-2 at the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. ... Burns has had two points in four of five games.

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What's next

Sharks: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, SNP, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Host the St. Louis Blues on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-MW, NHL.TV)