Oilers blank Sharks again, grab series lead

Shut out for a second straight game by the Edmonton Oilers, San Jose fell 1-0 in Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinals and trails 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. If the focus of the Sharks is to prevent Edmonton’s 3rd line from running all over them physically and even for a few moments they let their guard down against McLellan’s top two lines then Kassian’s impact was bigger than imagined. Edmonton Oilers goalie Cam Talbot (33) stops as shot against the San Jose Sharks during the first period in Game 3 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Sunday, April 16, 2017, in San Jose, Calif. Kassian leads the way with 21 shot attempts in the series, though he has missed the mark with many of them. It should also be noted that the Oilers are now 1 for 8. Logan Couture moved down to second-line center. “And it went over so well we said let’s carry it over to our first year here and it just kept growing and growing”.

“We’re confident in him back there”, Edmonton forward Jordan Eberle said. He’s a guy that is incredible what he plays through.

“It doesn’t matter how well a goalie is playing, you’ve got to find a way to get to him”, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. At some point in the not too distant future we won’t be able to count his playoff goals one hand. “Obviously here you need to win early or you’re going to be gone”. “We thought it would be a good time to come and celebrate with the kids”. “It’s simple to say, it’s easy to say, but we’ve got to be better”.

The Oilers were reeling a little at the start in their first trip to the Shark Tank at playoff time, which can be intimidating for even the most experienced veteran.

Instead, Thornton’s pass got past Marleau and Burns and later wound up outside the zone.

It didn’t matter. Kassian did the Sharks in again.

Edmonton out-shot the Sharks 36-16 on Friday and out attempted them 77-36 in total.

Letestu promptly passed it to a streaking Kassian, who barreled in alone and fired a wrist shot low past Jones’ blocker.

“It becomes tougher because there’s more bodies going to the net, it’s sporadic”, Oilers coach Todd McLellan said when assessing Talbot’s tidy performance at the podium after the game.

At one point, the sold-out crowd at SAP Center begged the Sharks with a loud chant to “shoot the puck”.

“I saw the orange and I just went for it”, said the man, who described the atmosphere downtown as “just insane”.

“We have to figure out a way to score to win”, Peter Deboer, the Sharks coach, said.

I chose these six statistical categories based on other criteria, but a quick review after the fact shows each of our “six stars” of the podcast leading one of them. “I think he came out and had a great game for us for not playing in awhile”. Neither shot, however, got past Jones. The contest rules stated that winners had two business days to claim their prize, but Oilers officials chose to give him the money anyway while making the deadline information more prevalent on the raffle tickets and the team’s website.