Edmonton Oilers eliminate San Jose Sharks in playoffs three years ago today

The first period was a whole lot of nothing from both sides, although I admire Milan Lucic (whom I still have mixed feelings about from his Bruins days) for his enthusiasm from the get-go. Kid got off to a running start, even if it involved a few blown plays.

The Sharks were a bit slow to the jump, getting outshot in the first frame by 9-6 in recorded shots on goal.

They would go on to outshoot Edmonton in the final two frames, putting the puck on net 22 times in response to Edmonton’s 12 opportunities over 40 minutes, but a quick two-minute jump for the Oilers to start the second period saw two breakaway goals that San Jose just couldn’t recover from.

You want to see those goals? Why, of course you do!

Leon Draisaitl broke away first, expertly protecting the puck in front of his stride before leveling his shot and shoveling it in five hole at 0:54 in the second period.

Then, Anton Slepyshev practically took a penalty shot against Jones, perfectly sending the puck past his blocker side to put the team up 2-0 just 56 seconds after Draisaitl opened up scoring.

Things ALMOST got hairy towards the end. The Sharks had a couple-minute stretch of almost exclusive possession in Edmonton’s end, and the team managed to get one past the ever-excellent Cam Talbot to ruin his shutout.

While Joe Pavelski’s shot almost went in a few minutes later, though, it didn’t – and Connor McDavid’s incredible empty netter from his knees with less than a second remaining just sealed the deal.