Make that three wins in a row for the Edmonton Oilers.
After starting this four-game road trip with a win over the Vegas Golden Knights earlier this week, the Oilers kept rolling on Thursday in San Jose with a 3-2 victory over the Sharks.
A one-goal win against the league’s last-place team doesn’t seem like much to write home about, but Edmonton cleared through the Sharks despite another injury to a key player. Already without Connor McDavid, Mattias Ekholm, Stuart Skinner, and others, the Oilers lost Leon Draisaitl mid-way through the game in San Jose.
The Oilers got goals from Connor Brown, Viktor Arvidsson, and Jeff Skinner along with 27 saves on 29 shots from Calvin Pickard en route to their third consecutive victory. The win tested Edmonton’s depth and they’ll again be leaning on veteran players to step up this weekend with a huge game against the Los Angeles Kings on the schedule.
The Kings beat the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday to maintain their two-point lead over the Oilers in the standings. The Vegas Golden Knights fell to the Winnipeg Jets, so both L.A. and Edmonton gained some ground in the race for the top spot in the Pacific Division.
What they said…
Head coach Kris Knoblauch on Leon Draisaitl’s status after the game…
“No, I don’t (have an update). I haven’t seen our training staff yet,” Knoblauch said. “You never want to miss those guys. You never want your top players not to play because every time they’re not in, it decreases your chances of winning because they are good players. What happens is other guys have some opportunities to play, get some confidence, hopefully score some goals, because we’re going to need them.”
Connor Brown on the Oilers playing through injuries…
“Sometimes when guys go down, other guys got to step up,” Brown said. “With playoffs coming up, it’s good for guys to get some extra minutes and some reps. Who knows, maybe it’s a good thing as long as those guys are OK, which I’m sure they are.”
Jeff Skinner on different players stepping up for the Oilers…
“We’ve had some injuries to key guys. It’s a lot of opportunity for other guys to step up, and I think guys have done a good job so far,” Skinner said. “We’re going to have to continue that and keep working together to get the results we want.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the Oilers finding ways to grind out wins…
“The last few nights, we’ve had to find a way to grind these ones out,” Nugent-Hopkins told Sportsnet. “You’re not always going to feel your best every night, and it’s about finding ways to win games. That’s what matters in the playoffs, and we’ve got experience at that.”
San Jose head coach Ryan Warsofsky on his team’s effort…
“I liked our effort,” Warsofsky said. “I thought we were competing, I thought we were doing the things that we’ve talked about here lately. It just wasn’t enough.”
