Sharks 4, Oilers 3 (SO)
EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers blew a two-goal, third-period lead on home ice for the second time in three games, dropping a 4-3 shootout decision to the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.
The Oilers led 3-1 with 13 minutes to go, but they withered under San Jose's pressure until they finally broke.
Tommy Wingels' goal at 9:15 of the third period evened the game. Logan Couture's power-play goal 2 1/2 minutes earlier, his second goal of the night, brought the Sharks close.
San Jose scored on two of three shots in the shootout, with Couture and Dan Boyle putting shots past Oiler goalie Devan Dubnyk. Edmonton went 1-for-3, with only Jordan Eberle beating Sharks goalie Antti Niemi.
The Oilers, 3-0-1 in their past four games, were looking to move into the top eight for the first time since the opening days of the season at the expense of a Sharks team that had one win in its previous seven games.
Edmonton's Sam Gagner scored his team-leading 12th of the season on a power play at 10:47, of the first period giving him points in 23 of the Oilers' 29 games this season.
The Oilers' 1-0 lead lasted less than four minutes, though, as San Jose squared it during a goalmouth scramble that saw the puck bank in off the skate of Edmonton defenseman Mark Fistric. Couture eventually was given credit.
Edmonton's five shots in the opening 20 minutes marked the fourth time in five periods that the Oilers were held to six or fewer shots. It also occurred in the third period against the Detroit Red Wings, and in two of three periods against the Nashville Predators.
The Oilers didn't generate much of anything in the second either (just eight shots), but still came out of it with a 2-1 lead thanks to a Shawn Horcoff goal that came against the flow.
Ryan Jones made it 3-1 five minutes into the third when he stripped defenseman Matt Irwin behind the San Jose net and scored on a wraparound.
After Couture's scored on the power play, Wingels tied it on a short-side wrist shot.
NOTES: Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins left the rink about two hours before the game after coming down with a flu that's been running through the team. ... San Jose improved to 14-2-3 in its past 18 games against Edmonton. In the Sharks' previous visit to Edmonton, they scored six goals in the first period of a 6-3 victory. ... Despite playing in only 14 games this season, Fistric began the night third on the team in hits with 56. He added four to his total Wednesday. ... Edmonton ranks third in the NHL with four short-handed goals, Lennart Petrell has two of them. ... San Jose's Marc-Edouard Vlasic became the second player from the 2005 NHL draft to reach 500 NHL games. Only the Los Angeles Kings' Anze Kopitar has played more games from the class of 2005.
