The San Jose Sharks, who have been struggling, visited the Edmonton Oilers in their final regular-season home game on Monday night, where Edmonton’s captain Connor McDavid finally made a comeback. Edmonton’s coach, Kris Knoblauch, began the game with a slight shake-up in the lines, with Henrique-McDavid-Hyman on the top line and RNH-Draisaitl-Foegele on the second line. I appreciate this move by coach Knoblauch, as it is an ideal time to experiment with new player combinations since Edmonton has already secured a playoff position and home-ice advantage in the first round. Also, Evander Kane was given a maintenance day, allowing Dylan Holloway to play.
The game started off with a bang, and guess who? Connor McDavid banked it off the Sharks defender to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead less than a minute in. Around three minutes later, Adam Henrique extended the Oilers lead 2-0 with a rebound goal in his first game on the top line. With nine minutes left in the first, Warren Foegele would score on a 2 on 1 breakaway to extend the lead to 3-0. The Oilers capped off the period with a redirected goal from Dylan Holloway and a perfect pass from Adam Henrique, to end the first with a 4-0 lead.
In the second period of the game, the Sharks managed to score a goal thanks to Danil Gushchin, but it didn’t matter much as Warren Foegele from Edmonton extended their lead back to four goals, with a score of 5-1. The game quickly got out of hand, and this has been a reflection of the Sharks’ troubled season, as Corey Perry scored another goal to make it 6-1. The goal-scoring spree just didn’t stop, and it began to feel unfair for San Jose’s goalie, Devin Cooley, as Cody Ceci and Evan Bouchard added more goals to push the lead further to 8-1. Consequently, Devin Cooley was pulled from the game, and Georgi Ramonav made his first-ever NHL appearance. He began this season in the ECHL with the Wichita Thunder and also couldn’t escape the onslaught of goals, as McDavid recorded his 100th assist this season with a pass to Zach Hyman, extending the lead to 9-1.
McDavid has become the fourth player in NHL history to record 100 assists, joining the likes of Wayne Gretzky (11 times), Bobby Orr (1 time), and Mario Lemieux (1 time). This game ended in a lopsided score of 9-2 in favor of the Edmonton Oilers, keeping their hope of winning the Pacific Division alive. The Vancouver team would like to win their game against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night to claim the Pacific Division. However, if they don’t, the division is still up for grabs for Edmonton. The Oilers will play away games against the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday night and the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. They aim to sharpen their game in these final two games to prepare for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which begin this upcoming weekend.
3 Stars of the game:
- 3) Dylan Holloway- 1 goal, 2 assists
- 2) Warren Foegele- 2 goals
- 1) Connor Mcdavid- 100th assist this season
ITR 43: It's Winning Time – Inside The Rink
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