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 On Thursday, the Sharks' coach got his desired result.
San Jose received goals from five skaters and 23 saves from
goaltender Antti Niemi to beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-1.
"The role players played some pretty good roles tonight — we saw
shots blocked, there was physicality, they won battles, they checked
well," McLellan said. "And the go-to offensive guys were productive.
It was a team effort."
The Sharks won for the fifth time in six games, and beat the Oilers
for the sixth straight time overall spanning a couple seasons.
"That is exactly what we want to get to," Edmonton coach Dallas
Eakins said, comparing his team to San Jose. "When you look at the
good teams, the common denominator is they play defense first and
that's the only way you can win. We need to defend first, that's it.
We'll never have success until we accept that mindset."
Left winger Joe Pavelski, recently named to the U.S. Olympic hockey
team, scored his 17th goal of the season at 5:44 of the third period
to cap the hosts' offensive showing. Center Joe Thornton fed
Pavelski for his second assist of the game and 10th multi-point
performance of the season.
"We were just ready to go from the drop of the puck for a full 60
minutes," Thornton said. "We kept the pressure on and dictated the
game."
The Sharks blew the game open in the second period as the Oilers
continued to struggle in their own end and commit turnover after
turnover.
San Jose right winger Bracken Kearns' third goal in as many games
came at 7:18 when he one-timed a feed from center Andrew Desjardins
from the slot by Edmonton goalie Devan Dubnyk. Left winger James
Sheppard and Desjardins worked hard in the offensive zone to create
turnovers and set up Kearns.
"Bracken to come up and give us that offensive boost that we need
from the supporting group has not been a pleasant surprise, but a
welcome one," McLellan said.
Another Shark on a goal-scoring streak — center Logan Couture — joined the party 1:27 later. Center John McCarthy's pass through the
neutral zone from just inside the San Jose end sprung Couture, who
let go with a shot from 15 feet out that sailed over the left glove
of Dubnyk and into the upper corner of the net.
Couture's 13th goal, a third in three games after an 11-game
goal-less drought, also represented his 200th career point.
The second period also saw the Oilers' top line of wingers Taylor
Hall and David Perron and center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins not play for
the final 17 minutes of the session.
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"We're not a deep enough team to have that line have an off
night," Eakins said. "They weren't very good and so it was time
for them to sit and watch. They took it well and did not hang
their heads. I talked to them between periods and explained how
important they were to our team. We need them every night to be
in the game."
The Oilers didn't reach double figures in shots until there was
4:25 remaining in the second period, but cracked through with
their next effort on net.
Right winger Nail Yakupov beat Niemi from the slot at 15:39
after gloving down a pass from Sam Gagne in the corner.
The Sharks shook off two non-effective power plays to score a
pair of late opening-period goals at even strength to take a 2-0
lead into the intermission.
San Jose broke through at 14:37 when right winger Brent Burns
capped an extended stay in the Edmonton zone with his 13th goal
into a half-open net thanks to linemate Thornton creating havoc
in front of Dubnyk.
Thornton tumbled to the ice, taking both Edmonton defensemen
Justin Schultz and Andrew Ference with him, and Dubnyk couldn't
go post-to-post fast enough to deny Burns, who took a perfect
goal-mouth feed from Pavelski.
Just 49 seconds later the hosts struck against as left winger
Patrick Marleau stripped Yakupov inside the Oilers blue line,
stepped to the top of the right circle and beat Dubnyk with a
low shot stickside at 15:26 for his team-leading 18th goal.
"They proved why their record is the way it is and we showed why
we have the record we do," Ference said. "If you want any kind
of success against good teams like that, you can't make it
harder on yourselves. You have to limit the mistakes."
NOTES: San Jose's depth at forward continues to get tested as RW
Tommy Wingels missed a second straight game. He didn't feel well
during the morning skate. Wingels sustained an upper-body injury
Dec. 30 against Anaheim. The Sharks are already missing LW
Martin Havlat (lower body), LW Tomas Hertl (knee), Raffi Torres
(knee) and RW Adam Burish (back) indefinitely. D Brad Stuart and
RW Tyler Kennedy did not dress for San Jose. ... For the
depleted Oilers, LW Ryan Hamilton (knee), C Tyler Pitlick
(knee), G Richard Bachman (groin), RW Mark Arcobello (ribs), LW
Ryan Jones (head), D Corey Potter (groin) and D Philip Larsen
(illness) remain out. ...The Oilers conclude their three-game
trip in Anaheim on Friday. ... The Sharks embark on a three-game
trip in four nights that starts on Saturday in Colorado.
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