Sharks Defeat Oilers 2-1

The hockey gods seem to want the San Jose Sharks to set all sorts of franchise records this season, as the Edmonton Oilers hosted the Sharks, but were denied 5 times by goal posts, and for the first time in franchise history, San Jose swept the Alberta province, taking back to back 2-1 wins in Calgary and Edmonton.

San Jose coach Todd McLellon told his players to expect two games: a 10 minute game and a 50 minute game.  What he meant was that the first 10 minutes would be a game where the Oilers would come out with great intensity, and the Sharks had to hold off the initial wave.  Jonathan Cheechoo helped cut it down to a 1 minute game, as he scored 52 seconds into the game, roofing a puck past the far side of Dwayne Roloson to give San Jose the early 1-0 lead.
Edmonton opened up the game, constantly sending in all three of their forwards on the forecheck and having defensemen pinch in, and the Sharks seemed to be struggling to get out of their defensive zone.  But they took advantage of their second power play, as a Christian Ehrhoff shot bounced off Joe Pavelski, and rebounded to Dan Boyle, who shot the puck high over the pads of a diving Roloson to make it 2-0.  But after a high-stick sent Pavelski down on the ice, the referees interpreted it as a diving misconduct, and it offset an Oiler penalty that would've negated their already ongoing power play.  Instead, the penalties offset, and Edmonton remained with the man advantage late in the second period, and Sam Gagner, the late man in a 3 on 2 rush, shot the puck off Ehrhoff's stick, which caused it to go over the shoulder of Evgeni Nabokov and into the net to cut San Jose's lead down to 2-1.  The Sharks held on to the 1 goal lead after killing off two more penalties and defending against the goalie pull in the final minute to defeat the Oilers.

The win gave San Jose a first in their 18 year franchise history: wins over Calgary and Edmonton in the same road trip to Alberta.  Coincidentally, both wins were almost exactly the same: 2-1 wins with goals by Dan Boyle and Jonathan Cheechoo.  Boyle's second straight power play goal in two games came after he went 22 straight without scoring.  The Sharks, who were missing 9 starters Monday night against Calgary, welcomed back defenseman Rob Blake and center Marcel Goc.  Blake registered an assist on the Cheechoo goal while Goc won over 70% of his faceoffs.  With the loss, Edmonton remains out of the playoff race in the Western Conference, 3 points behind Nashville.  A loss Thursday afternoon by the Detroit Red Wings allowed the Sharks to use the win over Edmonton to extend their lead to 6 points over the Red Wings in the battle for the top spot in the West, but a Boston win has the Bruins only 3 points behind San Jose in the race for the President's Trophy.  San Jose's next game will be a one game homestand against the Anaheim Ducks Saturday, and will be the first game in a back-to-back home-and-home series, as they will travel to Anaheim on Sunday in what may determine the Ducks's playoff fate.