By Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE, CA — San Jose Sharks have been inconsistent all season against the bottom NHL teams, having lost to the likes of Florida Panthers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Edmonton Oilers just on Sunday.

They had their chance for payback on Tuesday night back at the SAP Center when they began their five-game home stand against the Oilers, and they took an advantage of it, earning 5-2 victory in what was not a glamorous, but an effective performance.

Joe Pavelski scored twice, with Logan Couture, Barclay Goodrow and Brent Burns also scoring for the Sharks while Alex Stalock had a solid night in goal and made 25 saves in the victory.

Sharks got the start they wanted in the game with two quick goals.  First goal was the creation of Joe Thornton who was inside the Oilers zone along the boards. Sharks playmaker spotted Joe Pavelski who was standing in front of the net with his back facing Oiler’s goaltender Ben Scrivens. He passed him the puck, and Pavelski shot it backhanded, and high. It was a beautiful execution and one of the best goals Pavelski scored all season.

Sharks’ rookie Barclay Goodrow followed it up with another goal on the very next shift, as he was the first on the rebound on a shot from Melker Karlsson – who was playing in his NHL debut, making it 2-0 for the Sharks at 5:29 mark. This was Goodrow’s first NHL goal.

Jordan Eberle cut the Sharks lead to just one when he scored his sixth goal of the season after getting a quick pass from when he was in front of the net. Holding unto the puck, Eberle got away from Joe Pavelski who was trying to cover him and put the puck past Alex Stalock who did not follow Eberle’s movement with the puck.

Brandon Dillon made a costly giveaway towards the end of the first period. Passing the puck in his own zone, he let Teddy Purcell steal it from him, who quickly passed it to David Perron who scored an easy goal and tied the game at 2-2.

“We played two [different] first periods, the first ten minutes and the second ten minutes, “ said Todd McLellan summarizing that stretch in the game. “In the first ten, we did what we wanted to do. In the second ten, we started to bring pucks back, we started to pass through the opposition instead of around them or by them, so that ends up in your net. The positive thing is, the guys accepted those facts between periods and we went back to playing the way we need to play.”

Sharks took the lead back when Logan Couture scored on a redirect from a shot made by Scott Hannan when Oilers gave away the puck inside their zone trying to clear it and Hannan shot it towards the net. It was a quick reaction by Couture that caught Scrivens by surprise.

Sharks doubled their lead shortly thereafter when Joe Pavelski scored again, this time on a power play, only seven seconds into it. Patrick Marleau won the face-off, Sharks held to the puck, and passed it around the perimeter, moved well, finding open Pavelski right in front of the net who one timed it above Scrivens’ glove, making it 4-2 for the Sharks towards the middle mark of the game.

While the home team gave away the initiative from that point on, and Alex Stalock had to be great to keep them in it, San Jose did score the key goal at 14:31 mark in the third period when Brent Burns’ slap shot from the blue line was so fast that Scrivens had virtually no chance to save it – even from that distance. The goal made it 5-2 and put it out of the Oilers reach.

Sharks gained some valuable points in the standings, with their divisional opponents LA Kings, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks all losing games the same day. They continue their home stands on Thursday when they host Minnesota Wild.