SAN JOSE – The Sharks were simply no match for Connor McDavid, Leon Drasaitl, and the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.
McDavid and Draisaitl each had three points in the first two periods as the Oilers built a five-goal lead and cruised to a 7-1 win over the Sharks at SAP Center, handing the home team its most lopsided loss of the season.
Sharks winger Oskar Lindblom scored in the third period for the Sharks’ only goal.
Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen allowed the Oilers’ first five goals on just 27 shots and finished with 34 saves as he was hung out to dry by the skaters around him on more than one occasion.
“We just stunk,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “We stunk on the power play, we stunk on the penalty kill, we stunk 5-on 5, our forwards stunk, our defensemen stunk. The only guy that didn’t stink was our goalie.
“(A game like) that hasn’t happened all year and over 82 games, something like this is going to happen, and we move past it pretty quickly.”
Klim Kostin, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jesse Puljujarvi, and Ryan McLeod also scored for the Oilers, who play the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
“The game got away from us,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said. “I think too many shifts where it snowballed, and we made mistakes, and they ended up in the back of our net. When you get down three or four goals, you want to go out and make a difference in the game, and it’s human nature to try and do too much.”
Even though San Jose’s record at home is now a league-worst 4-12-6, the 15,887 patrons who paid to watch Friday’s debacle haven’t seen a defeat at the Shark Tank this bad all season.
The Sharks’ worst loss this season before Friday was on Dec. 20, when they were blasted 7-3 at home by the Calgary Flames.
The Sharks’ homestand continues next week with games against New Jersey on Monday and Dallas on Wednesday.
“If you don’t (bounce back) and you fall into the rut of just accepting games like this, then that’s when things get ugly, and I know that won’t happen here,” Couture said. “We’re too proud of our style of play and that is hard work. We’re going to show up and get back to work and play a hard game on Monday.
“It starts with obviously our leaders. I need to be a lot better. We need to go out and work.”
Draisaitl assisted on McDavid’s two goals, with both coming on the power play, and scored his own at even strength with 2:05 left in the second period to give Edmonton a 5-0 lead.
McDavid’s goals came at the 10:59 mark of the first period with Nick Cicek serving an interference penalty, and also at the 11:28 left in the second period with Cicek in the box for tripping.
The Sharks have struggled on special teams for most of the last two weeks. Friday, San Jose went 0-for-4 on the power play and is now 1-for-21 with the man advantage over the last seven games. The Sharks also went 2-for-4 on the penalty kill, and are 17-of-22 while down a man over that same time frame.
McDavid, who turned 26 on Thursday, now has a league-best 82 points in just 44 games, as he remained on pace to become the first NHL player to finish with 150 points or more since Mario Lemieux had 161 points in 1995-1996.
“This is year eight for (McDavid) now, whatever it is, and no one’s been able to figure out how to defend him,” said Sharks defenseman Matt Benning, a former Oiler, and teammate of McDavid’s who was on the ice for Edmonton’s first five goals.
“He finds ways to get it done. He’s quick, he does it all. He was good tonight. I’m going to take responsibility, I’ve got to know when he’s out there and make better plays with the puck, and can’t let those guys have those opportunities.”
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