GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Sharks 3 (OT)

EDMONTON, AB – Smelling blood in the water.

Zach Hyman scored the winner 1:06 into overtime on Thursday as the Edmonton Oilers stormed back from three goals down in the third period to earn a 4-3 comeback victory over the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place, locking down their first three-game win streak of the season.

"I think nobody really wanted to talk about it, and it's good that we got that third one out of the way," Kasperi Kapanen said. "So I'm sure guys have been thinking about it a little bit throughout the year, but hopefully, from now on, we can just keep playing well and then extend this win streak."

The Sharks took an early two-goal lead only 1:35 into the contest off goals from Collin Graf and Adam Gaudette before Michael Misa made it 3-0 half a period later, as they looked to end a seven-game losing streak against the Oilers by showing they're not the same team as seasons past with a hot start.

The Oilers responded early in the third period thanks to Leon Draisaitl's 26th goal of the season to make it 3-1 only 1:34 into the third period, before they pulled their goalie for the extra attacker with over four minutes left and scored twice through Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard to earn a point.

Just over a minute into the extra frame, Zach Hyman buried a one-timer that was set up by Connor McDavid to give the Oilers the comeback victory after Dmitry Orlov slid into netminder Yaroslav Askarov in the crease and impeded him from stopping the winger from scoring the winner.

"It's nice having three in a row, but more importantly, we beat a team that we need to keep behind us," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "They've got games in hand on us, and we want to finish as high as we can in the standings. To do that, we have to win games, especially games against teams that are in our division that we want to pass, so I think that was the most important part of it."

Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard both finished with a goal and two assists, while Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist.

The Oilers will look to make it four straight wins on Saturday when they host the Minnesota Wild at Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

All of a sudden, the waters around Rogers Place are looking a lot more shark-infested than before.

The Oilers came into their first match with the Sharks this season 14-1-0 over their last 15 meetings, allowing two goals or fewer in 12 of those, but quickly learned this isn't the same San Jose team they'd become accustomed to in previous years after being tagged to a 2-0 deficit in the opening 1:35 of play.

"As a good team, we need to start better, and that's just hockey," Kasperi Kapanen said. "Sometimes that happens. They're a good team as well. They came out flying and have a good young team with a lot of energy. So the first period was bad, and then after that I thought we were playing better."

Just 26 seconds into the contest, a turnover from Mattias Ekholm along the boards and the Oilers' inability to clear the puck put it right into the hands of Macklin Celebrini, who found Will Smith with a pass that worked its way to Collin Graf in the left circle for a wide-open one-timer to open the scoring.

The Oilers knew that dealing with Celebrini would be a challenge, but it would be much more difficult if they couldn't manage their mistakes that were landing right on the tape of the Sharks.

But only 1:09 later, Edmonton made another early error when forward William Eklund stopped a dump-in against Ty Emberson at the red line, turning it over to Adam Gaudette for a breakaway that he backhanded over Connor Ingram to make it 2-0 for the Sharks inside the opening two minutes of the first period.

The Oilers conceded a two-goal lead on their first two shots of the contest.

"I wouldn't say it was a tough start for the goaltender. I would say tough start for our team," Hyman said. "That was right from the first shift. We were guilty. The five of us were out there right away and couldn't get out, then it was a turnover and into an empty net. I don't know what you want Ingy to do on that one, and the next one's a breakaway, I don't know how long later, so a lot of self-inflicted stuff that we can clean up."

The Sharks received a bounce on their third goal over half a period later, but were manufacturing their luck after taking a 3-0 lead when Timothy Liljegren aired the puck into the neutral zone for rookie Michael Misa to skate in and have his open look go in off Evan Bouchard for his second career NHL goal.

San Jose was showing that they aren't the bottom-feeders of years past and were looking to win for the first time in Edmonton since 2020, having come into Thursday's contest with a 14-1-0 record and winning 13 straight games when scoring the first goal.

SECOND PERIOD

Whether or not the penalties were earned, the Oilers' penalty kill did its job by keeping the Sharks from adding to their lead in a second period where they looked like the better team despite being outshot 9-8 and spending four of the 20 minutes shorthanded.

With Evan Bouchard in the box less than five minutes into the frame, the Oilers had the better chances after Mattias Janmark couldn't filter a pass through on a two-on-one to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, before Vasily Podkolzin's pass on the same penalty kill bounced on the top of San Jose's net after being deflected.

Edmonton's fourth line then followed it up with their best shift of the period, with Janmark winning a race to the puck in the neutral zone for a partial breakaway that was thwarted by the poke check from Yaroslav Askarov and Curtis Lazar fanning on a clear-cut one-timer in the slot on the next sequence.

"You look at the ice time, and they definitely can have more shifts," Knoblauch said. "They've earned it, especially that fourth line. They've been working hard, and they've been spending a lot of time in the offensive zone, and up until the third period, the ice was pretty spread out. But then the way the game went with offence, face-offs and the TV timeouts, we were able to play Connor and Leon quite a bit."

"Overall, we weren't behind because of our third and fourth lines. Early in the game, they were probably our two better lines."

The Oilers had built some momentum past the seven-minute mark of the period before Mattias Ekholm was wrongfully accused of high-sticking Celebrini, when his stick missed contacting the Canadian standout's face by inches off the rush but was called for the penalty despite even Celebrini's objections.

"They can't review it," Knoblauch said. "Even if they say they made a mistake, that's the call. So we ended up just getting the penalty."

Edmonton managed to kill it off to maintain their perfect penalty kill at 3-for-3, but they were no closer to catching the Sharks through 40 minutes.

"It's frustrating, but you've got to try not to let the frustration set in," Hyman said. "Some games are going to be really good, some aren't going to be good, but you've got to just bear down and stick with it and find a way. I thought we were able to do that, and really good teams tend to find ways to win games, all different sorts of ways."

THIRD PERIOD

These may not be the same Sharks we're used to seeing.

But these are the very same Oilers we've known for years, who've shown countless times that no lead is safe from them.

"I think this group is pretty confident that no matter how we're playing, we can climb out of a hole," Hyman said. "You obviously wanna start out great, you wanna be in the lead, you wanna do all the right things, but hockey sometimes doesn't work out like that. So it's good for us to win a game like this.

"You don't want to have it happen often, but every once in a while, it's good for your team."

After Leon Draisaitl got one back only 1:34 into the final frame, the Oilers smelled blood in the water and erased the Sharks' lead by coming back to earn a point from a pair of goals from Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard in a 2:06 span after pulling their goalie for the extra attacker in the final four minutes.

"We score one on the third early, get two six-on-five goals, and you've got to make a lot of great plays to get three in a period and then obviously find the OT winner. So I like that we stuck with it. Obviously, we can clean up lots, and I think it just comes with being more urgent and competitive."

Draisaitl made it 3-1 early in the second period by quickly getting to a loose puck in the crease and putting home the easy finish for this 26th goal of the season after Evan Bouchard's low shot on goal hit the skate of defenceman Dmitri Orlov and went through the five-hole of Yaroslav Askarov.

It was Draisaitl's first goal in four games and extended his point streak to three (1G, 7A) after recording seven helpers over his previous two contests.

Still needing two goals late in regulation, the Oilers pulled Connor Ingram for the extra attacker with over four minutes left in the third period to give them ample time and firepower to push for overtime, which got a lot closer after McDavid made it a one-goal game with 3:05 on the clock.

"I'm sure it's terrifying," Kapanen said. "I've been on the other side of it, and when you have world-class players like that putting pressure on you for an extended period of time, eventually it's going to go in unless you score that empty net or you clear the zone.

"The guys did a great job today, obviously not just scoring one goal, but two goals. We're always in it."

After Draisaitl tried to feather it through to Nugent-Hopkins near the right post from the circle, the German sent a pass over to McDavid on the opposite side of the ice that the captain dispatched past Askarov with a deadly wrist shot into the top corner to make it 3-2 with over three minutes left in regulation.

Draisaitl picked up his 50th assist of the season, while McDavid now has 34 goals to sit second on the NHL's goalscoring list behind Nathan MacKinnon (38), but ahead in points at the time of the Oilers making it a one-goal game – but there was still more to come from the captain.

"We have elite players that can score and that are dangerous," Hyman said. "I'm sure that a lot of the young guys coming up watch Connor and Leon and idolize those guys as kids, just the way that we did with Sid and Ovi, but those guys are superstars."

The Oilers completed the comeback with 59 seconds left in regulation after Mattias Ekholm executed the keep-in on an attempted Sharks' clearance to extend possession, getting it to Draisaitl before it was moved between the circles to Bouchard to fire a deflected shot past Askarov to tie the game.

Bouchard had a goal and an assist in the third period to extend his point streak to four games (4G, 6A), helping secure a point for the Oilers as we headed to overtime in the first meeting of the season between Edmonton & San Jose.

OVERTIME

What a 'fin-ish' for your first three-game win streak of the season.

"It was not a great game from us obviously, so I guess it was going to take a game like that – an ugly one – to just get over the hump there," Hyman said. "Crazy stat with where we are, but we've won three in a row, so we can stop talking about it."

Zach Hyman ended the contest 1:06 into overtime after the winger attacked with Connor McDavid coming over the blueline on a quick regroup and opened up for a one-timer in the left circle, beating Askarov five-hole for the game-winner as Timothy Liljegren backed into the crease to impede his own goalie.

Thanks to their comeback, the Oilers have finally secured their first three-game win streak of the season and will look to extend their winning ways against one of the best teams in the NHL this season in the Minnesota Wild on Saturday at Rogers Place.

"Never a doubt," Kasperi Kapanen said. "Didn't start the way we wanted to, and that's hockey. Sometimes, you start late, and I felt that as the game went on, we were playing better, which is always a positive. But we knew we had to make a push in the third, and this team is always in it, so that's a good example."