The Oilers may have lost to the San Jose Sharks in game one of their Stanley Cup playoff series, but two fans went home very happy sporting a cheque for almost 337-thousand dollars.
Armed with one game's worth of post-season experience and an entire season's worth of desperation, the Oilers ran the San Jose Sharks out of town on Friday, dominating the defending West Conference champions in a 2-0 Game 2 victory that echoed all the way back to Silicon Valley.
SAN JOSE - Joel Ward: Following an underwhelming regular season, one off last year's playoff hero (7g 6a) will be expected to chip in when it counts. He swiped at the puck with this stick, tipping it to the Oilers' Mark Letestu.
Once again, the Oilers had a one-goal lead at the second intermission.
With four skaters aside, Tomas Hertl fought off a check from Oilers defenseman Kris Russell, took the puck in front and got a shot on Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot.
"If we turn over pucks continuously or get caught cheating on wrong sides it presents challenges", Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. They produced just four shots in the third period, and 16 during the duration of the game.
It was the first playoff game in the Oilers' new downtown arena and the team's first National Hockey League postseason game in nearly 11 years. Kassian scored early in the second period and McDavid doubled the lead midway through the third period. We're going to continue to try and improve from night to night, you have to do that in the playoffs.
The Oilers team record for shorthanded goals in a playoff game is three, set on April 17, 1983, in a 10-2 win over Calgary.
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Connor McDavid's, the NHL's leading point-producer, also assisted on Lucic's goal. The pair were skating and pressing the play all night, and they teamed up on the Sharks' first goal when Donskoi bulled his way to the net with a spin move before dishing to a waiting Ward for a power play marker. He coached the Sharks through 540 regular-season games and 62 playoff matches. Getting the more experienced playoff team and the plus money is where I see value in this matchup.
The second game in the best-of-seven, first-round series is in Edmonton on Friday night. While future glory is nearly pre-ordained for a player as talented as McDavid, he's likely going to get his nose bloodied this year: either figuratively, literally, or both.
"I don't think there's a lot of fear in young players", he said. They would be a handful even if they were facing a red-hot, healthy team.
"But in that sense for us ... you don't go out of your way to hurt anyone, but you definitely want to let them know that you're there".
To head coach Pete DeBoer, it was one of the grittiest performances he's ever seen.
"You don't get many shots from your the neutral zone or your end, so it's as simple as that", McLellan said. "We expect it and we'll deal with it like we always have". "He is looking really good this season". He has 15 points and 19 penalty minutes in 19 career games against the Sharks.
DeBoer said just seeing Couture toughing it out all week and then making it to the gate for Game 1 was a major inspiration in the room. "This isn't the first team that's tried to be physical on key guys".
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