GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Sharks 4 (OT)

EDMONTON, AB - Defenceman Mattias Ekholm scored twice, tying the game on his eighth goal of the season with 3:47 left in regulation, before Darnell Nurse secured the Edmonton Oilers the extra point with 15 seconds on the clock in overtime on Monday night in a 5-4 victory over the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place.
"I thought at home, that was great that he found those two very important goals at important junctures in the game," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "For Darnell to get the one in overtime, I thought it was excellent."
Ekholm earned the decision in the Battle of the EK's, besting San Jose defenceman and Norris Trophy candidate Erik Karlsson, who was vital to the Sharks push for the win on Monday with two goals but couldn't chase down Nurse in the final moments of sudden death.
"We could have been a lot better tonight I thought, but at the same time, these games are hard," Ekholm said. "You've got to work yourself up, you got to get yourself going, and we snuck it out. Obviously we could have been better, but it's hard to win in this league, so we'll take it and move on."
Sharks goaltender James Reimer made 46 saves on 51 shots, including a massive last-minute stop on Leon Draisaitl, but couldn't come up with the final save when Nurse flew down the bench side of the ice late in extra time and beat the netminder five-hole for the game-winner.
"I think we can contribute from the back end," Ekholm said. "I think we have great guys up front that can do it, so it's going to be a team effort and especially come playoffs, I know how big that is because obviously anyone that plays Edmonton is going to have a pretty heavy emphasis on those two guys (McDavid and Draisaitl). All the other guys need to step up."
Kailer Yamamoto had a goal and assist for the Oilers, providing the pass up the wall that led to Nurse's OT winner, while Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins all contributed two helpers in the victory. Making his first start since Mar. 4, netminder Jack Campbell stopped 28-of-32 shots for his 18th win of the campaign.
The Oilers are now winners of four games in a row overall and six straight over the Sharks, including all five meetings during the 2023 calendar year. Edmonton now owns a record of 40-23-8 with 88 points, good for third in the Pacific Division and a five-point on the Seattle Kraken with two extra games played.
The Oilers look to keep their solid 15-game stretch at Rogers Place (10-1-4) rolling into Wednesday's meeting with the Arizona Coyotes.

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REVIEW AT THE READY

The Sharks looked to have capitalized on a slow start from the Oilers early when Tomas Hertl beat Campbell with a far-side snipe from the left circle 1:14 into the first period.
That was before the call came down from the booth of Video Coach Jeremy Coupal and Video Coordinator Noah Segall for an offside challenge -- the first of three successful challenges by the Oilers on the night.
Upon review, forward Alexander Barabanov was guilty for crossing the blue line ahead of the puck on San Jose's zone entry, negating the opening goal from Hertl in the first two minutes.
"We have two video coaches that do a really good job for us, and we have a process that we believe in," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "We spend a lot of time studying what gets called around the league. We ask a lot of questions and in the end, when you do your work like that, when the pressure time comes, we have a process that we follow. Tonight, we were proven right on a few, but it wouldn't happen without Jeremy and Noah."
"They won us the game tonight, so it was great to see," Ekholm added. "Our video team here is tremendous, so good on them."
Zach Hyman had his 31st goal in the back of the net at 10:39 of the first period after Draisaitl's redirection went off the 30-year-old in the crease and over the unsuspecting netminder Reimer.
But like so many this season for Hyman, the celebration would be short-lived. A Sharks review for goaltender interference reversed the call as it was deemed by the officials that Reimer wasn't given a sufficient opportunity to make the save after Hyman came in contact with him in the blue paint.
It was Hyman's sixth disallowed goal this campaign -- a frustrating number for the Toronto native, who could've been closer to striking the 40-goal plateau by now with a bit more luck in the NHL's Situation Room this season.

FIRST BLOOD

Despite their early overturned goal, the pair of Hertl and Barabanov would combine four-and-a-half minutes after their disallowed effort to give San Jose their 1-0 lead.
The Sharks captain put a long shot on Edmonton's net from inside the left circle, and Barabanov was positioned at the opposite dot to connect on the long rebound pushed out by Campbell and find twine at 14:12 of the opening frame for their deserved go-ahead goal.

BJUTIFUL PASSING PLAY

Just 1:20 after the Oilers fell behind, a sweet three-way passing play between the line of Warren Foegele, Nick Bjugstad and Mattias Janmark had Edmonton on the board.
"I've had a couple of easy ones. That was easy one tonight," Bjugstad said. "My linemates Janmark and Foegs put it right on my tape."
A rimmed puck from defenceman Philip Broberg, back in the lineup on Monday night for the Oilers over Vincent Desharnais, came around the other side to Janmark, who one-touched a pass through his legs to Foegele in the left circle. Number 37 found Bjugstad at the far post all alone, where the 30-year-old centre buried his third goal as an Oiler and second at Rogers Place into an empty cage beyond a sliding Reimer.
"Veteran first and foremost, and he's someone who's a long body. So, I think he's tough to contain for other teams," Woodcroft said. "I think he's been good in the face-off circle over his time here. He's found ways to get on the offensive side of the ledger. I wasn't expecting that, but seen some good things there. I think he's commanding his share of ice time."
"I'm just trying to acclimate," Bjugstad added. "Obviously you're new and you want to make an imprint right away, so just trying my best to start well defensively and then usually, good things come from there."

SHARKS BITE IN THE SECOND FRAME

The Sharks had themselves in a position to end their six-game losing skid (0-4-2) through 40 minutes.
Another hard Oilers forecheck early in the second period returned another goal when Kailer Yamamoto's 10th of the season came at the end of a turnover and scrappy buildup 30 seconds into the middle frame.

When the Sharks made it 2-2 soon after, it was Edmonton and their video department's turn to win a goaltender interference review when Andreas Johnsson's tying goal was overturned. But past the midway mark of the game, San Jose would have the lead back following a pair of missed assignments by the Oilers defence in a 1:51 span. Steven Lorentz got loose on a breakaway and batted in his own rebound before Karlsson scored his first of two goals in the period by finding himself loose in front to dangle Campbell and restore the Sharks lead at 3-2.
Ekholm's seventh of the campaign was a beauty that the Swede tucked low inside on Reimer's glove side on the backhand 1:25 after Karlsson, but his countryman answered back before the break, netting his 22nd of the season to lift the Sharks into a 4-3 advantage through 40 minutes.

PLAY OF THE GAME

In the battle of the EK's and Swedish blueliners, Ekholm wasn't about to lose that duel on home ice to Karlsson.
The Sharks had another overturned offside goal for Noah Gregor early in the third period, their third successful review, and it proved to be a decisive one by Coupal and the Oilers that set up Ekholm launch the equalizer over Reimer's glove with 3:47 remaining in regulation.
"Don't get used to it with me I guess," Ekholm said of scoring twice. "I heard it was the second multi-goal game of my career, so I guess things are clicking and that's nice. I'll try to enjoy that and keep that moving, but I think we have good depth on this team. I think we showed it tonight."

McDavid put a pass into open space to Ekholm, two tee'd up his second of the game from inside the right circle to record his eighth of the year, third as an Oiler, to tie things up 4-4 in the final minutes.
"If you guys look at that goal, there's two guys just sprinting at him and that gives me all day, all night to wind up and take a look again and then hit it," Ekholm said. "That second goal was a good shot, not going to deny that, but I think also the time and space you get playing with those guys obviously helps."

SAVE OF THE GAME

A delay of game penalty from Mario Ferraro putting the puck over the glass in the final two minutes gifted Edmonton a late power play to win it, but Reimer took it away with a terrific last-gasp save.
The puck was put on the wide-open stick of Draisaitl off the feed in front by Hyman, but the Sharks netminder sprawled out to deny the German the sure-fire game-winner from his regular spot with 47 seconds left on the clock and send this game to overtime.

TURNING POINT

After some missed chances in extra time, including Evan Bouchard striking the post and the spotlight coming on, it looked like we were destined for ther shootout until Nurse got loose along the benches.
"I had all the faith in the world in Darnell going down there," Bjugstad said. "I don't know what he told you guys. I don't think he whiffed on it. I think some of the guys were saying he did."

Yamamoto rimmed the puck along the boards and the defender flew up the ice unopposed in the final minute of overtime, going five-hole for the game-winning goal on Reimer to secure the Oilers the extra point and their fourth straight victory.
"Guys are always joking here that I get quite a few (breakaways) and never score," Nurse said. "But that feels like the first one in a while."

PARTING WORDS

Coach Woodcroft on earning the win but still having fixable moments to address in practice:
"I would agree with you. First of all, there's things to fix tomorrow. But I thought our willingness to win and our ability to find a win when a goaltender was having a great night, I would compliment James Reimer. I thought he played a heck of a game tonight. I thought the San Jose Sharks played a heck of a game tonight and gave us everything that we could handle, but we didn't play the game we wanted to play in the first two periods and I thought we could do better. But we also knew what the stakes of tonight were, which was that two points on the table, and I think you have to give our players credit for finding a way to get those two points. But nobody's blind to the fact that we have to fix some things."
Coach Woodcroft on Yamamoto and blending the lines to generate new looks tonight:
"I thought Kailer Yamamoto was one of our best players tonight. He made a lot of really good plays, including the play on the winner, to have the wherewithal and the heads up to make that pass to Darnell like that. I thought Nugent-Hopkins was good with whoever he played with tonight and I kind of moved him around. We didn't like what were seeing at different points in the game and we had the blender out and we're just trying to find a way in the end. As I said, not perfect, but the players found a way to get the two points. We'll take it and move on."
Ekholm on the vital reviews by Coupal, Segall and the Oilers that overturned three San Jose goals:
"It's been a comfort for me. (Coupal) was probably the guy I knew the best coming here and I don't think those guys get credit enough with what they do. They're doing long hours, they grind it out, and if you look at it, what's their margin of error? It's an offside by inches sometimes, right? Because you're supposed to always be right when you challenge too, so it's a kind-of-not-so rewarding job at times and pretty hard because you always have to be right."
Nurse on the qualities that make up the Oilers video department:
"Yeah, they have great attention to detail; I think a good awareness of how things are getting called in the league because sometimes, you get think it's going to come back and it's not, so they have a good awareness of when to make the call and when not to."
Nurse on celebrating two points but taking the learning moments from this game:
"We'll get back here tomorrow and break it down a little bit after watching the film, but like I said, you're not going to have your A-game every night. You've got to find ways to win those games, but this time of the year, we have to have our A-game more nights than that.