By: Joe Lami

The San Jose Sharks had to come from behind twice on Thursday night to beat the struggling Edmonton Oilers 4-3. The win for San Jose marks their eighth straight game in which they earned the victory on home ice. Thursday night was an important one, as the Oilers entered the night 1-16 in the last 17 games played with the lone victory against the Sharks two weeks ago in Alberta.

Boyd Gordon started the scoring for the Oilers, getting the lone goal in the first period. The puck kicked out from the sidewall into an empty slot, as four San Jose defenders were trying to retrieve the puck from the corner. Gordon was able to pick it up and get a quick backhander through San Jose’s Antti Niemi’s five-hole for the 1-0 lead at the 14:43 mark.

The Sharks tied the game in the second period with a James Sheppard goal. Sheppard was set up with a beautiful pass from Barclay Goodrow behind the net to the slot at the 5:51 mark. Sharks’ head coach, Todd McLellan commented on Sheppards play of late “He (Sheppard) is really starting to come into a leadership role. He’s leading that third line”.

It took just 1:37 later for the Sharks to take the lead. This time off of the stick of Logan Couture. Couture received a pass from defenseman, Brendan Dillion, entering the zone and shot a rocket from the left circle beating Oilers’ goalkeeper, Ben Scrivens, top corner stick side. “I surprised Scrivens. He didn’t think I was gonna shoot and it got on him quickly”, commented Couture.

The lead wouldn’t last long for San Jose, as Edmonton had a quick answer. 47 seconds after the Sharks took the lead the Oilers tied it. Steven Pinzzotto notched his second of the season on a scramble out in front of the net. He poked it past Niemi for the 2-2 tie.

The Oilers had the lead going into the third period. Much thanks to Ryan Nuget-Hopkins who notched his ninth goak of the year. Once again, Niemi gave up a bad rebound and the Oilers capitalized. Jordan Eberle picked up the assist, as he shot it towards the net, Niemi gave up the rebound, and Nuget-Hopkins was there on the doorstep for the goal.

San Jose trailed going into the third period. Sharks’ forward, Joe Pavelski, said “It took us too long to get going”. McLellan added “They were beating us in the blue paint all night. It wasn’t even close actually”.

However, the Sharks finally got it going in the third. Once again two quick goals, 34 seconds a part, were enough for San Jose to squeak by. Matt Tennyson scored his first of his NHL career at the 8:29 mark on the power play. Tennyson gained entry after receiving a pass from Tommy Wingles. His shot from the right circle beat Scrivens stick side to tie the game. McLellan commented of the severity of the goal in San Jose Sharks’ history , “When Mr. Gund (the Sharks’ former owner who passed away two seasons ago) created this team, his dream was for a San Jose kid to score a goal. Tonight (Tennyson) achieved his dream”.

Barclay Goodrow, Thursday night’s first star, scored the game winner at 9:03 of the third period. Goodrow received a pass from defenseman, Brent Burns, to get the breakaway. After fighting off Oilers’ defenseman, Justin Schultz, he slipped the backhander past Scrivens for the game winner.

San Jose’s rookies were on fire tonight, accounting for a combined five points, and being part of three of the Sharks four goals. “The rookies are really starting to feel like they belong here, playing at this level”, added McLellan.

The Sharks hope to keep make it a perfect five-for-five home stand, as the host the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.

Follow Joe Lami on Twitter: @joe_lami

Photo Credit: Ivanmakarov at en.wikipedia [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons