Sharks beat Oilers 3-2 in overtime in Game 1

San Jose (46-29-7) finished third in the Pacific Division with 99 points. The Oilers opened the scoring at 6:44 when Oscar Klefbom took a cross-ice pass from Jordan Eberle and took a low shot that deflected off Sharks defenseman David Schlemko and into the goal. Game 3 is Sunday in San Jose.

Sports has a unusual way of coming full circle on a guy.

The Edmonton couple won $336,995 in a record 50/50 jackpot in Game 1, Wednesday night. They were not only outplayed but struggled to even get pressure on. The reason we went so far past year is because we kept coming back in the second and third periods.

The Sharks power play was no great shakes in the regular season, ranked 25th at 16.7 per cent. When he was repeatedly asked how he felt, he repeatedly answered, “same as yesterday”. They were even worse in the neutral zone, where the Sharks controlled almost 62% of loose pucks, an area that is usually close to equal.

The San Jose Sharks and Edmonton Oilers meet Friday in game two of the first round of the National Hockey League playoffs at the Rogers Place.

“We’ve been through some adversity this season and we’ve always bounced back well”. They are the reigning Western Conference champs. But McLellan said their youth could be an advantage. “I think we know the level we can play at”. The Oilers just have to keep the puck in the zone, make smart plays and get bodies in front. “That’s the thing that we’re going to have to work on with this group is just letting that go”.

What we need to look at more closely is how these teams looked heading into the playoffs.

“Doesn’t matter where we were in March”, said DeBoer before he walked off the podium. McDavid’s goal came with Milan Lucic in the box for high-sticking.

They outshot San Jose 36-16, including 12-6 in the second and 15-3 in the third and got shorthanded goals from Zack Kassian and Connor McDavid, along with a shutout from Cam Talbot, to even the series 1-1.

Kassian scored 42 seconds into the second frame when Pavelski lost control of the puck at the Oilers blue line. “It just seemed the last two periods we were just hanging on”. Injuries and age vs. the upstart and very exciting new kids on the block. “The crowd is going to be buzzing and loud. We’re going to have to continue that in the playoffs”. A lot was made of the Oilers playoff inexperience, with just 342 combined postseason games under their belt coming in compared to well over 1,000 games for the Sharks, the defending Western Conference champions. He’ll present another problem for the Sharks. Joe Pavelski leads San Jose with 29 goals, Brent Burns has 47 assists and Patrick Marleau has 190 shots on goal. After all, they still remember the pain of losing last year’s Stanley Cup final to the Penguins.

“There is no doubt we fed off that energy”, Mark Letestu, the Oilers’ 32-year-old centre, said Thursday.

Some season ticket holders were a bit irked about the concourse passes and anxious the move would cheapen the playoff experience for longtime fans by creating longer bathroom and concession lines. The Oilers’ bottom six was pretty much non-existent. Considering the Sharks were missing their best loose puck recoverer in Joe Thornton, that’s a bad sign for Edmonton.

You better start warming up to the idea, and consider picking them in your Stanley Cup Playoffs Bracket Challenge.