Oilers defeat Sharks for 9th straight win, finish 2nd in Pacific

EDMONTON --The Edmonton Oilers finished second in the Pacific Division despite winning their ninth straight game, 5-2 against the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place on Thursday.

The Oilers finished two points behind the Vegas Golden Knights, who defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-1 on Thursday. They will play the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"It's been good. We obviously feel good about our game heading into the most important time of year," Edmonton captain Connor McDavid said. "We're excited. Even if there wasn't stuff on the line, we'd want to finish strong. We've been saying all along we believe momentum is a thing and you can carry it into the playoffs. I thought our game tonight was solid, and we want to continue our strong run into the playoffs."
Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists, Mattias Janmark scored twice, and McDavid had an assist to extend his point streak to 16 games for Edmonton (50-23-9), which went 14-0-1 in its final 15 games of the regular season.
"I thought the task was to get the win, and our players went out and did that," Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. "Probably one of the things I liked the best was that we locked it down in the third period. I think the second period wasn't our best period by any stretch, but I liked the way we played in that third period to lock it down and kind of put the game out of reach."

Stuart Skinner made 27 saves for his 29th win of the season, which passed Grant Fuhr (1981-82) for the most by a rookie in Edmonton history.
"It means a lot to be recognized in the same sentence as Grant Fuhr," Skinner said. "Growing up in Edmonton, all you heard about is how fantastic of a goalie he is and how competitive he was. He's a Hall of Fame goalie, one of the best goalies to play the game, so it's a really cool moment. At the same time, it's the regular season and you're trying to make your way into the playoffs, and now that the season is over we can focus on the postseason."
Steven Lorentz had a goal and an assist, and James Reimer made 31 saves for San Jose (22-44-16), which lost its final six games of the season (0-5-1).
"I was happy with how we competed," Sharks coach David Quinn said. "Obviously, the score certainly wasn't what we wanted, but you get down 2-0 and battle the way we did and hung around. The short-handed goal was a tough one to take, but we battled back and got a power-play goal and were hanging around. Talent usually wins out, and that's what happened again tonight."

Janmark gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead at 4:16 of the first period. As he tried to cut across the crease after driving down the left wing, Janmark was poke checked by Reimer, but the puck caromed off the forward's skate and fluttered back into the net.
Draisaitl made it 2-0 at 6:56 with a power-play goal, one-timing a cross-crease pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins below the right face-off circle.
Noah Gregor cut it to 2-1 at 9:44. He picked up a rebound near the left post and lifted the puck over Skinner.
Evan Bouchard pushed it to 3-1 at 5:02 of the second period. Draisaitl took a cross-slot feed from Kailer Yamamoto and quickly sent a spinning backhand pass to Bouchard, who shot into an open net.
Janmark extended the lead to 4-1 at 14:04, beating Reimer five-hole with a backhand on a short-handed breakaway.
"Not only did he get two goals today, but he became another one of those double-digit scorers on our team," Woodcroft said. "Where we're about to go, you need contributions from everybody, and sometimes the best players on both teams saw each other off and you're looking for a little bit of production elsewhere, and we have a lot of guys that can score given the opportunity."

Lorentz cut it to 4-2 with a power-play goal at 18:48. He tipped in a shot from Tomas Hertl one second before a tripping penalty on Oilers forward Klim Kostin expired.
Evander Kane lifted in a centering pass from Draisaitl at 15:55 of the third period for the 5-2 final.
"This is a team that is fighting to win a Stanley Cup," Quinn said. "I think they are certainly capable of doing it. You can certainly see the growth of them throughout the last three or four years. Sometimes you have to lose before you learn how to win, and this group looks ready. Playing Colorado and Winnipeg and Vegas over the last few weeks, to me, this team looks as ready as anybody."
NOTES:McDavid, who had 29 points during his streak (10 goals, 19 assists), finished the season with 153 points (64 goals, 89 assists). … Draisaitl's goal was his 32nd on the power play, tying Dave Andreychuk (1992-93) for the second-most in NHL history. Tim Kerr owns the record, scoring 34 with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1985-86. … The Oilers finished the season 32.4 percent on the power play, the best in NHL history. The previous record was held by the 1977-78 Montreal Canadiens at 31.9 percent. … Edmonton also led the NHL with 18 short-handed goals this season. … The Oilers won 50 games for the first time since 1986-87, when they went on to defeat the Flyers in seven games in the Stanley Cup Final.