GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Sharks 2

SAN JOSE, CA – Five points for the captain and two points earned in Sili-Conn Valley.

Connor McDavid recorded five points, including his third hat trick of the season, as the Edmonton Oilers' power play went 3-for-3 on Wednesday to help them claim two points & stay atop the Pacific Division with a 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center.

"It was a big two points," McDavid said. "I thought everybody played really well, and personally, I got a couple of bounces early, which always helps. It was a fun game."

McDavid had a hand in each of Edmonton's three goals with the man advantage, scoring his 45th of the season & 100th career power-play goal and assisting on tallies for Vasily Podkolzin & Jack Roslovic.

The captain scored twice at even strength in the second, including a dazzling goal that made it 4-2 off the rush for his second goal of the night, before getting a bounce off a stick on a two-on-one that beat Alex Nedeljkovic five-hole for his 15th career hat trick.

McDavid now leads the NHL's scoring race by six points over Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov with 133 points (46G, 86A) in 79 games.

Jack Roslovic and Vasily Podkolzin each had a goal & an assist, while Evan Bouchard picked up two helpers to become the second defenceman in Oilers franchise history alongside Paul Coffey to surpass 90 points.

Bouchard leads all NHL blueliners with 21 goals and 70 assists in 79 games this season.

"We knew we had to bounce back from last game," Bouchard said. "Playing a back-to-back is not always easy, especially against a team like San Jose, who's fighting for the playoffs. So it's a good win for us to sit on for a few days."

The Oilers will keep hold of first place in the Pacific Division as they head to Los Angeles to close out their three-game road trip with a Saturday afternoon tilt with the Kings.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers were the first to make a mistake with an early penalty that cost them on Macklin Celebrini's opener five minutes in, but McDavid would steal the spotlight from his Canadian Olympic teammate, starting by capitalizing on a pair of errors from the Sharks to reverse it into a 2-1 lead for Edmonton.

"I've grown to kind of like back-to-backs a lot this year," McDavid said. "There's just something about them where I've been feeling really good in them. I feel on right away, and tonight that was really the case."

All three goals scored in the first came on the man advantage, starting for San Jose after Edmonton was guilty of too many men early on to set up Celebrini's shot through a screen set by Alex Wennberg that beat Connor Ingram with 4:27 gone in the period.

For the second straight night, the Oilers were charged with a power-play goal against in the opening five minutes, but a holding call against Michael Misa 200 feet from his own team's net, resulting in McDavid putting it into the danger area and pushing home his 45th goal & 100th career PPG off the skate of Alex Nedeljkovic at the near post.

Edmonton had scored two power-play goals over its previous nine games without Leon Draisaitl, but they delivered on both of their opportunities in the first period on Wednesday, leading 2-1 after McDavid picked up an assist to reach 130 points.

After Vincent Desharnais put the puck over the glass for the delay of game penalty, Podkolzin had Nugent-Hopkins' shot from the right circle bounce off his skate and through the legs of Nedeljkovic for his 19th goal of the season.

Nugent-Hopkins' shot from the right circle bounced off the skate of Podkolzin and through the five-hole of Alex Nedeljkovic and a 2-for-2 start for the power play.

Both Podkolzin and Nugent-Hopkins currently sit on 19 goals this season, looking to reach the 20-goal plateau for the first and seventh times in their careers, respectively.

SECOND PERIOD

What we were witnessing was a McDavid masterclass, and he wasn't done yet.

It was looking like one of those vintage dominant performances from McDavid after he picked up two more goals for the hat-trick and another assist in the second to build the lead to 5-2 and his output to five points (3G, 2A) through two periods against the Sharks.

McDavid set up his team's third power-play marker and Roslovic's 21st of the campaign by catching the Sharks on a change with a 150-foot breakaway pass from below the goal line, leading to Roslovic backhanding the Oilers into a 3-1 lead 3:33 into the frame.

Roslovic's goal and assist give him four points (1G, 3A) over his last four games and seven (4G, 3A) over his last eight games, with McDavid picking up his second point.

After the Sharks broke up the run of power-play goals by responding 1:04 later on a deflection from Kiefer Sherwood, it was McDavid sliding home his second goal and fourth point on a terrific rush just 1:16 after the Sharks had made it a one-goal game.

McDavid took a regroup pass from Bouchard and drove his way around a group of defending Sharks before cutting in and going around Nedeljkovic to put away his 46th goal of the season in sensational fashion, growing the lead to 4-2 with under 14 minutes left in the second.

In addition to McDavid strengthening his grasp on the NHL's scoring lead, Bouchard tallied his second assist of the night to sit on 91 points (21G, 70A), leading all defencemen by an 11-point margin over Columbus' Zach Werenski and becoming the second Oilers defenceman to reach 90 behind Paul Coffey, who did it four times.

Before the period was over, McDavid would record his 15th career hat trick and third of the season by getting the bounce off the stick of Dmitry Orlov on an odd-man chance with Jack Roslovic, deflecting it through Nedeljkovic's five-hole at 5:47 of the frame.

McDavid (133) currently leads Nikita Kucherov (127) in the Art Ross race by six points by way of his third five-point game of the season and 14th of his career.

Defensively, the Oilers had done a good job limiting the Sharks to only 10 shots through two periods following a disappointing 6-5 defeat to Utah on Tuesday, and that commitment would have to be elevated in the third period to lock down the two points against a playoff-chasing Pacific Division rival.

"The power play obviously helps," McDavid said. "Finding a way to get three on the power play, you should win a lot of nights. Obviously, yesterday giving up the shorty hurts a lot. So the power play stepped up and was good. Everyone defended well. We checked hard. They got some special players over there, so I thought we did a good job defending."

THIRD PERIOD

The Oilers put on a clinic defensively in the third period to shut down the Sharks and secure their much-needed victory, but it came after losing Ingram to begin the frame before Jason Dickinson needed to be helped off the ice after blocking a shot.

Tristan Jarry started between the pipes for the Oilers to begin the third period after Ingram had mentioned to Head Athletic Therapist T.D. Forrss during a TV timeout in the second that he was experiencing some discomfort, leading to the end of his night with eight saves on 10 shots.

"We got tested out in the training room, and then we felt it was best for him and our team not to push it and make something worse," Knoblauch said. "Then we made that decision in between periods that Jarry would be going in."

"I thought our team defended really well. Jarry made a couple of saves when needed, but I certainly liked how our team responded and defended."

Later on, the Oilers went down to 11 forwards when Dickinson took a puck to the back of his leg, ultimately needing to be helped off the ice by his teammates on his way to the dressing room. 

Coach Knoblauch didn't have an update on Dickinson's status after the game.

The Oilers locked it down inside their own zone after that, limiting the Sharks to only four shots in the third for a total of 14 for their second-lowest total of the season in what proved to be a tough loss for San Jose in their push for a playoff spot.

Later on, the Oilers went down to 11 forwards when Dickinson took a puck to the back of his leg, ultimately needing to be helped off the ice by his teammates on his way to the dressing room. 

Coach Knoblauch didn't have an update on Dickinson's status after the game.

The Oilers locked it down inside their own zone after that, limiting the Sharks to only four shots in the third for a total of 14 for their second-lowest total of the season in what proved to be a tough loss for San Jose in their push for a playoff spot.