EDMONTON, Alberta The Sharks were handed one power play opportunity after another Friday night as the Edmonton Oilers repeatedly put themselves down a man with a handful of reckless plays.
At Rogers Place alone, thousands of fans will be in the building for the team's first playoff game in this arena - while numerous fans paid for tickets to sit in seats, and more than a thousand fans will be watching the game on TV screens in Ford Hall.
Though most Edmonton fans were crestfallen after the Oilers overtime loss to the Sharks, David and Tanya Idzan were all smiles.
The Sharks made it to the Stanley Cup Final last season partly because their defensive awareness helped limit the effectiveness of scorers such as Los Angeles' Tyler Toffoli, Nashville's Filip Forsberg and St. Louis' Vladimir Tarasenko.
Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said he is not sure if it was his team's experience or just an overall sense of composure that turned the tide. "This isn't going to be a short series".
Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot faced few quality scoring chances en route to the shut out.
They lost 3-2 in overtime to the San Jose Sharks in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarter-final. SAP Center will be a raucous sea of teal when the Sharks host the Oilers on Sunday, after playing the first two games away.
Some who couldn't get tickets lined up to buy $80 tickets that got them onto the Rogers Place concourse, but they'd have to watch the game on television screens.
Milan Lucic and Oscar Klefbom scored for the Oilers before 18,347 fans at sold-out Rogers Place.
Rajinikanth, Who Rarely Tweets, Wishes Sachin Tendulkar For A Billion Dreams
With music composed by AR Rahman, Sachin: A Billion Dreams is scheduled to release in theatres on May 26. The movie aims to tell the cricketer's journey from childhood till now.
Klefbom scored the Oilers' first playoff goal since 2006 when he took a cross-ice pass in the high slot from Jordan Eberle and fired the puck low between the pads of Sharks goalie Martin Jones at 6:44. "They didn't look anything like the team that we've seen in the last two months tonight, but they looked like the team that went to the Stanley Cup Final past year".
McDavid's goal came at the 10:31 mark of the third period, as he picked up loose puck in his own end, streaked up the wall and beat Jones for his first career playoff goal. Lucic had a goal and an assist. One home in Los Gatos was one of five chosen to be painted in teal just in time for the playoffs. Through two periods, Edmonton had been credited with 33 hits to the Sharks' 10.
Zack Kassian opened the scoring 42 seconds into the second.
But the physical play also made the Oilers have to kill more penalties than they wanted.
The Oilers, on the other hand, haven't lost at home since March 12 and are led by National Hockey League points leader Connor McDavid.
"That's playoff hockey", said DeBoer.
"This is the one day out of the year I look forward to the most", said Darren Porras of San Jose. "It was one of those things, the puck seemed to follow me tonight". They were almost 12 per cent below the league average in the percentage of loose pucks recovered in their defensive zone, a brutal performance.
"The beauty of the Stanley Cup playoffs is all it takes for a team to get in and once you get in really anything can happen", said San Jose Sharks Spokesman Jim Sparaco.
Comments