GAME RECAP: Oilers 7, Sharks 1

SAN JOSE, CA - Happy birthday, Connor McDavid. Have a night, Jack Campbell.
McDavid celebrated his 26th birthday in style with two goals and an assist while Campbell stopped 25 of 26 shots to lead the Oilers to a dominant 7-1 victory over the Sharks.
"He's a serious pro that has had really good runs in his career and I think his game is going in the right direction," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said about Friday's winning goaltender. "He's making the most of the opportunity that he had this week."
The captain's first-period goal saw him become the fastest player to 80 points in a season (44 games) since Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis did so with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96. He's also the third player in franchise history to record 80 points in 44 games or less, joining Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey.
The Oilers have now outscored their opposition by a 13-3 margin in the last two contests, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl also enjoying three-point games in San Jose. Edmonton had 12 players record at least one point in the lopsided triumph.
"It was 2-0 after the first period, both teams were competing hard. We had some things go our way tonight, but they're a well coached, proud team," Woodcroft said about the effort. "We were fortunate on some things tonight, but we executed the way we wanted to and came away with two points with multiple contributions up and down our lineup."

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FIRST BLOOD

It was only fitting the birthday boy had the honour of opening the scoring in this one as Connor McDavid collected his 36th goal of the season on the day he turned 26. It was also fitting the goal came as a result of a give-and-go with his partner in crime Leon Draisaitl, who was playing his 600th career game.
With the Oilers on the power play just past the midway mark of the first period, McDavid took a pass from Tyson Barrie in the neutral zone and found Draisaitl at the blueline. Draisaitl entered the attacking zone and passed it back to a streaking McDavid, who deked around an errant, discarded stick and sniped a wrist shot far side past netminder Kaapo Kahkonen.

MILESTONE MOMENT

Vincent Desharnais' dream-come-true week continued on Friday when he recorded his first NHL point with the second assist on Klim Kostin's 2-0 goal late in the opening frame.
The 6-foot-7 defenceman, who made his Oilers debut on Wednesday, sent a pass from the point to Kostin at the side of the net. The winger wasn't able to corral the puck, but he recovered it in the corner, dropped a pass to Zach Hyman and made his way to the net. Hyman then banked a pass off Kostin's skate and past Kahkonen for the Russian's sixth goal in his last eight games and eighth tally overall.

POWER-PLAY PRECISION

The Oilers have a knack for scoring early in power plays this week as Draisaitl lit the lamp six seconds after winning the faceoff on a man advantage in the second period of Wednesday's game in Anaheim, and it was McDavid's turn to tally his second of the night on Friday just eight seconds after a Nick Cicek tripping penalty in the middle frame.
Once again, Draisaitl won the faceoff, McDavid then collected the puck and sent it back to the point for Barrie, who passed it over to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who fired a shot on net. Kahkonen made the save, but before the goalie even had a chance to react, Draisaitl pounced on the rebound and found McDavid wide open on the other side for the tap-in tally, his second of the night and 37th of the season.

PLAY OF THE GAME

SOOOOUUUUUUUP! With 17:11 to go in the third period, Jack Campbell submitted his entry for save of the year when he dove across the crease and darted out his glove to snare a point-blank shot by Marc-Edouard Vlasic after a fantastic feed by Logan Couture for one of his 25 stops on the night.

"I would love to see it again," Nugent-Hopkins said about the stop. "They didn't really show it on the Jumbotron, but obviously I think that's going to be up there for save of the year. Incredibly athletic reaction there, but all night he was solid for us and gave us a chance."

TOP PERFORMER

The birthday boy McDavid continues to be on another level this season compared to his peers, with his 82 points (37 goals, 45 assists) extending his NHL scoring lead over a non-teammate to 21 points clear of the Tampa Bay Lightning's Nikita Kucherov.
Despite his performance, McDavid's focus after the game remained on the two points the team picked up and Saturday's impending showdown with Vegas.
"We certainly need to keep building on our game and two good ones in a row," he said. "We keep talking about consistency, so that's a good sign, but the test is tomorrow night against a good Vegas team trying to make up some ground as well. So it's a big one."

PARTING WORDS

Coach Woodcroft on the Oilers mindset coming into the game:
"I said this at the beginning of the trip, that our focus is one at a time here. One day at a time, taking care of your business, one shift at a time, one period at a time, one game at a time and that's been the focus. We came in expecting to get two points tonight. We were going to work to get those two points, but we expected it and that's the attitude that we carry into every game."
Woodcroft on potentially adding Evander Kane back to the lineup sooner rather than later:
"Any time you can add a player of his caliber, you get excited about it. We're scrapping and clawing, and that injury was a major injury, a traumatic, horrific injury. We're thankful that we had our great medical people there. Not only did they save his life, but their quick action was able to make sure that he was in surgery quickly. The doctors down in Florida did a great job, and I expect him to get back even sooner than most people think. He's champing at the bit. He's been in every practice here, and I think he's sick of getting extra skated at the end, and that's driving him to heal fast."
Connor McDavid on the play of Jack Campbell and his save on Vlasic:
"He's been good in both (games this week). Obviously disappointed to give one up there for him. He really fought hard there and he probably deserved a shutout, and that's definitely our fault there."
"Beautiful save. We've seen him make a few of those saves, and he's definitely athletic enough, he's shown that and definitely showed it there."
Nugent-Hopkins on his goal scoring this season:
"Guys are putting me in good spots to put the puck in the net and I'm trying to bear down as much as I can, but I think I definitely get some good passes from guys getting some good looks, just trying to finish as much as possible."

Nugent-Hopkins on the Oilers defence tightening up:
"It's definitely something that we've been talking about working on. Obviously the first half of the year, it's tough to win in this league letting in four or five. That's obviously a full-team effort, trying to cut those goals against down is a sign of a a good thing, but obviously nothing comes easy and doesn't mean that just because you did it for a week it's going to keep happening. We got to keep our foot on the pedal here and make sure we continue to trend in the right direction."
Jack Campbell on his solid start in San Jose:
"I think we had a good practice here Tuesday and got prepared and had a great start in Anaheim and followed that up again tonight with another great start in a tough building. They came out and they always push hard the first five to 10 minutes and thought we did a good job."
Campbell on having his shutout bid foiled late in the game:
"Yeah, that's kind of what they're really good at (tipping shots). They look for that. The guy had to set up the whole way and made a nice tip. Of course I want it if it goes through me, but nice play and it's a big win. That's the most important thing."