{"id":511393,"date":"2026-03-19T13:20:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T13:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/511393\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T13:20:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T13:20:27","slug":"3-takeaways-from-oilers-5-3-win-over-sharks-the-hockey-writers-edmonton-oilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/511393\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Takeaways From Oilers\u2019 5-3 Win Over Sharks – The Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edmonton Oilers grabbed a crucial two points in the tight Pacific Division playoff race, defeating the San Jose Sharks 5-3<\/a> at Rogers Place. The Oilers now have a seven-point cushion over the Sharks and jumped into second place in the Pacific Division, leapfrogging the Vegas Golden Knights, who lost 2-0 to the Buffalo Sabres.<\/p>\n

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor Murphy, Vasily Podkolzin, Max Jones<\/a>, and Zach Hyman scored for Edmonton, while Dmitry Orlov, Pavol Regenda, and Kiefer Sherwood scored for San Jose. Connor Ingram<\/a> stopped 27 of 30 shots for a .900 save percentage (SV%) in the win, while Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 32 of 37 shots for an .865 SV% in the loss. Here are three takeaways from this massive divisional win.<\/p>\n

Oilers\u2019 Depth Came Through<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, the Oilers announced that superstar Leon Draisaitl would miss the rest of the regular season<\/a> with a lower-body injury. While that\u2019s a massive blow, this provides an opportunity for other players to step up and gain some confidence down the stretch. That\u2019s exactly what happened in this game.<\/p>\n

Related: 4 Oilers Who Need to Step Up in Draisaitl\u2019s Absence<\/a><\/p>\n

In limited minutes, the fourth line was fantastic. Jones played 6:56, Adam Henrique<\/a> played 10:12, and Trent Frederic played 7:01. That trio each got a point on Jones\u2019 game-winning goal. A strong forecheck, forcing turnovers, and getting to the net led to that goal. Frederic won a battle in the corner and centred the puck to Henrique. Then, Henrique found Jones in front of the blue paint, and he outmuscled the defender and jammed the puck home. That was simple hockey, and that\u2019s how the fourth line must play to be effective.<\/p>\n

After that goal, they had another shift immediately. They sustained offensive zone time while maintaining momentum throughout a line change, and the top line came on and scored another goal following another great fourth-line shift. <\/p>\n

Jones had one goal, two shots, and four hits; Henrique had two assists and two shots; and Frederic had one assist, one shot, and two blocked shots. That line was outstanding, but the home team also got contributions from Podkolzin and Murphy. The Oilers scored five goals, and Connor McDavid was held to only one power-play assist. That\u2019s saying something with how well the depth played. This was arguably Henrique\u2019s best game of the season.<\/p>\n

Oilers Had a Sloppy Second Period<\/p>\n

The Oilers had a 3-1 lead after one, but they gave it up in the second period. They weren\u2019t ready to play in the middle frame, and the Sharks capitalized on Edmonton\u2019s mistakes. If it weren\u2019t for Ingram<\/a>, the Sharks could\u2019ve easily taken the lead into the intermission. The Oilers\u2019 netminder made some massive saves to keep his team in it until they found some momentum.<\/p>\n

\"ConnorSan Jose Sharks left winger Kiefer Sherwood battles with Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard in front of goaltender Connor Ingram (Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

After a solid first period, the Oilers completely fell asleep in the middle frame. They looked lethargic and lackadaisical, leading to unforced errors. They weren\u2019t generating speed through the neutral zone, and they were missing routine and easy passes. They kept trying to flip the puck from the neutral zone, but they didn\u2019t have enough speed on the forecheck to retrieve those pucks. That led to easy clearing attempts by the Sharks\u2019 blueliners. The visitors had a 15-12 advantage on the shot clock in the second period and a 7-4 advantage in high-danger chances<\/a> at 5-on-5.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the Oilers found their game in the third period and poured on the pressure. They bounced back after an underwhelming second period and took control of the game. They responded well, and that was great to see.<\/p>\n

Oilers Limited Smith & Celebrini<\/p>\n

The Sharks are a rebuilding team that relies on their youth for offence, most notably Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini. Celebrini is already a superstar in the NHL, and he\u2019s currently fifth in league scoring with 95 points in 65 games. However, the youngster was held pointless with two shots and one hit in 22:51 of ice time. He was noticeable with the puck, but the Oilers didn\u2019t allow him to generate much offensively and kept him on the perimeter. They played him extremely well.<\/p>\n

The Oilers also held Smith to just one shot in 13:27 of ice time. Unlike his teammate, he wasn\u2019t noticeable and didn\u2019t look dangerous. Edmonton did a great job of containing the Sharks\u2019 best players, forcing their depth to beat them. The Oilers\u2019 depth was better, and that was ultimately the difference.<\/p>\n

The Oilers continue their four-game homestand against the defending two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Thursday (March 19). Keep following The Hockey Writers<\/a> for all your NHL content throughout the season.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Oilers grabbed a crucial two points in the tight Pacific Division playoff race, defeating the San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5125],"tags":[1586,155,198,146,5300,5,501,4,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-511393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton-oilers","8":"tag-adam-henrique","9":"tag-connor-mcdavid","10":"tag-edmonton","11":"tag-edmonton-oilers","12":"tag-edmontonoilers","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-macklin-celebrini","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-oilers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116256049934469225","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}