Zach Hyman's overtime winner sends Oilers to 5-4 victory over Sharks

EDMONTON -

There wasn't anything left to play for, but the Edmonton Oilers still kept their hot streak going as playoff preparation.

Zach Hyman scored his career-high 27th goal of the season 1:37 into overtime as the Oilers overcame a dreadful start to record a 5-4 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

Ryan McLeod, Kailer Yamamoto, Derek Ryan and Philip Broberg also scored for the Oilers (48-27-6) who tied a franchise record for most consecutive games with a point at home, going 13-0-1 in their last 14 appearances at Rogers Place.

“It was one of those ones where we knew we weren’t fully on the top of our game,” said defenceman Brett Kulak, who assisted on the overtime goal. “But we knew we could trust our process and go back to the simple things and keep chipping away at it. We have a lot of offence, we don't really have an issue scoring goals. We just kind of stuck with it and ended up getting it done.”

Edmonton has also won six of its last seven overall.

“Our players said the right things on the bench, some small corrections were made on the ice and we started to skate better in the second period,” said Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft, who now sports a 25-9-3 record behind the bench.

Noah Gregor had a pair of goals and Scott Reedy and Nick Bonino also replied for the Sharks (32-36-13) who have lost two straight as they wind down a season that has seen them miss post-season play.

“It was one of our better games offensively on the cycle, generating chances; there were some positives out of this game,” said Sharks head coach Bob Boughner. “But you get into three-on-three, that’s a recipe for disaster against Edmonton. We had a couple of chances, but you have to play an almost perfect overtime to get this thing to a shootout.”

The Oilers will face the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the playoffs.

San Jose got off to a quick start to the game, taking advantage of a giveaway by Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen when Gregor sent a wrist shot into the net 2:42 into the game.

Then, just 26 seconds later, Gregor scored again, banking a shot off defender Evan Bouchard’s skate for his eighth goal of the season.

Edmonton got back into the game midway through it despite being outshot 26-13 at that point. Sharks goalie James Reimer made a save on a power-play point blast by Bouchard, but McLeod was there to deposit the rebound for his ninth.

The Oilers tied the game with seven minutes to play in the middle frame as Leon Draisaitl made a beauty of a backhand spin pass to Yamamoto and he beat Reimer for his career-best 20th goal of the season.

The Sharks regained the lead just a few minutes later on a power play of their own as Reedy tipped in a Brent Burns shot.

Edmonton made it 3-3 midway through the third period as a Tyson Barrie shot was tipped by Ryan and then caromed off defender Nicolas Meloche and into the net.

San Jose took control yet again just 63 seconds later when Bonino took a pass in the slot and beat Koskinen with a quick shot for his 16th.

However, Edmonton came flying back just a minute after that as Broberg crept in from the point and pulled the trigger on a Connor McDavid pass to score his first career NHL goal and send the game to extra time.

Both teams are right back at it to conclude regular-season play on Friday as the Oilers play host to the Vancouver Canucks and the Sharks head to Seattle to face the Kraken.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2022.