Max Jones and Zach Hyman scored 3:23 apart early in the third period as the Edmonton Oilers picked up two vital points in a 5-3 victory over the visiting San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
Adam Henrique had two assists for Edmonton, which won its second straight to open a four-game homestand.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tallied on a power play as the Oilers scored three goals in the first period.
Connor Murphy scored his first goal with Edmonton after being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks ahead of the trade deadline. Vasily Podkolzin also found the net.
Edmonton’s Connor Ingram made 27 saves to improve to 4-0-1 in March. He made several critical stops as the Sharks attacked consistently throughout the second period.
Kiefer Sherwood and Dmitry Orlov each tallied one goal and one assist for the Sharks, which fell seven points behind the Oilers.
Pavol Regenda also scored for San Jose, which lost for the fifth time in seven games (2-3-2) and completed a once-promising road trip with a 2-3-0 record.
Alex Nedeljkovc (32 saves) came into the contest with a 3-0-1 record, a 1.98 GAA and a .927 save percentage in March, but he struggled in the first 20 minutes.
Jones scored the eventual game-winner 4:49 into the third period, rebounding Nedeljkovic’s initial stop on Henrique.
Hyman added some insurance minutes later, backhanding the puck after Nedeljkovic saved Matt Savoie’s initial redirect of a Mattias Ekholm slap shot.
Orlov got San Jose on the board first, 7:24 into the game, with Alexander Wennberg recording his 300th career assist.
Nugent-Hopkins evened the contest midway through the opening period. Murphy put the Oilers in front 75 seconds later on a slap shot that found its way through traffic and past Nedeljkovic, and Podkolzin made it 3-1 at 14:18.
Regenda redirected a Mario Ferraro slap shot to halve San Jose’s deficit at 8:17 of the second period.
Sherwood scored on a breakaway goal at 14:46 of the second after the puck got past two Oilers on the boards, evening the game at 3-3.
Edmonton got word earlier Tuesday that Leon Draisaitl, who ranked fourth in the league in both assists (62) and points (97), would miss the rest of the regular season after sustaining a lower-body injury against the Nashville Predators on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
