Oilers need overtime heroics to sink Sharks 5-4

EDMONTON -

It was the definition of a goofy game.

Darnell Nurse scored the overtime winner on his team’s 52nd shot as the Edmonton Oilers won their fourth straight by defeating the San Jose Sharks 5-4 on Monday night in a game that featured four goals called back on video review.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was able to spring Nurse on a breakaway and he scored with just 15 seconds left in overtime.

“Obviously, our group, we’ve got to be better in here for a full 60-minute effort,” Nurse said. “But we were resilient. There are nights that you are not going to feel it, but you have to find a way to win and we did that tonight.”

Mattias Ekholm had a pair of goals and Nick Bjugstad and Kailer Yamamoto also scored for the Oilers (40-23-8) who have won eight of their last 10.

“It was a crazy game,” Bjugstad said. “A lot of disallowed goals, a few in our favour. We definitely need to clean some things up and our urgency early wasn’t there, so I think that was the main problem.

“There was just a lot going on. I think our coaching staff and our team would prefer not to have a game like that, but we proved we could rally back and battle through some adversity there.”

Erik Karlsson had two goals and Alexander Barabanov and Steven Lorentz also replied for the Sharks (19-37-15) who saw their losing streak extended to seven games. The Sharks have one win in their last 13 games.

“We’ve seen that movie before,” said San Jose head coach David Quinn. “They’re one of the best teams in the league who have an awful lot of fire power and I thought we competed our asses off.

"We’re in a different situation from an organizational standpoint than they are, our goalie played great and I thought we did a lot of good things tonight. It just wasn’t enough.

"We almost got to the shootout and anything can happen in a shootout situation. I just really liked our compete and our effort.”

The Sharks looked like they had an early lead just 1:14 in when Tomas Hertl cleanly beat Oilers goalie Jack Campbell with a blast to the top corner, only to have the goal called back via video review on an offside call.

San Jose would get the game’s first goal, however, just 5:48 into the first, as a big rebound off of a Hertl shot came out to Barabanov, who wired home his 15th.

Edmonton pulled even at 7:08 of the opening frame as Warren Foegele found a wide-open Bjugstad at the side of the net and he had an easy time scoring his third as an Oiler before Sharks starter James Reimer could get across the crease.

The Oilers looked to have surged ahead midway through the first on the power play on a deflection in front by Zach Hyman, but the goal was disallowed upon review for goaltender interference.

Edmonton officially made it 2-1 just 30 seconds into the second period as a pass ticked off a pair of defenders before hitting the stick of Yamamoto, who scored his 10th.

The Sharks looked to have tied the game six minutes into the middle frame on a goal by Andreas Johnsson, but once again the goal was called back on goalie interference after a challenge.

San Jose tied the game at 8:32 of the second as Lorentz was stopped by Campbell on his original breakaway shot, but was able to bat his own rebound out of the air and in for his eighth.

The Sharks made it 3-2 less than two minutes later when blown coverage allowed Fabian Zetterlund to make a soft pass to Karlsson in alone, and he beat Campbell with a nifty deke.

Edmonton tied it again 11:48 into the second period, as Ekholm changed gears and cut in on net before beating Reimer with a backhand shot.

Karlsson gave the Sharks yet another lead a couple minutes later, taking a feed in the slot and blasting a one-timer in for his second of the game and 22nd of the season.

An unbelievable fourth goal was called back four minutes into the third as a goal off an odd-man rush by Noah Gregor was deemed to have been offside, the third goal taken away from the Sharks.

“Obviously all the challenges were correct, that’s why the system is in place,” Karlsson said. “That’s the way it is sometimes, we got more taken away than they did. But it was all good calls and that’s why we implemented the rules they have so they have a chance to look at it.

"They judge it the way they do in game speed and then have a chance to correct it. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t capitalize on at least one of those.”

Cody Ceci fished a sure goal to safety as it was on its way into the Edmonton net, allowing Ekholm to score his second of the game a couple minutes later with 3:47 remaining in the third, walking in and powering a slapshot past Reimer to make it 4-4.

Reimer would make a huge save with 47 seconds remaining on Leon Draisaitl on the power play to send the game to extra time.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2023.