By Pearl Allison Lo

~ The Edmonton Oilers and former San Jose Coach Todd McLellan won their fifth straight home game for the first time in seven and a half years, beating the Sharks 4-3 Wednesday.

Edmonton is now on a season high four game win streak. They have scored at least two goals in each.

Meanwhile, San Jose’s season-high losing streak continued, now at five games. Without a top-four defenseman, they are now 1-7. When starting the third behind, they are now 1-11.

The Sharks’ Logan Couture was injured midway in the second period and never returned, due to a lower body injury.

Two of the Oilers’ top-20 draft picks, Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins contributed. The Sharks’ Patrick Marleau, Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle and Hall each had a goal and assist and Nugent-Hopkins had two assists.

The Oilers had a 2-on-1 in which they nearly scored in the first period.

Shots were 9-7 in the first in favor of San Jose in a physical first.  Darnell Nurse, Hall and former Oiler Mike Brown each had two shots apiece.

After the second, it was 1-0. Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl scored easily at 6:22, aided by Teddy Purcell and Hall.

Each of the first two periods featured a fight.

This was followed by a five-goal flurry in the third.

The teams traded goals, starting with Justin Braun’s first goal of the year at 3:56. He was helped by Marleau and Joel Ward. Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News noted Braun’s goal snapped a 68-game scoring drought.

Eberle made it 2-1 at 8:21, assisted by Jujhar Khaira and Nugent-Hopkins. Peter DeBoer tried challenging based on goalie interference, but was unsuccessful.

Starting at 11:07, Marleau and Captain Joe Pavelski then scored solo goals one and a half minutes apart to take the lead for the first time. Pavelski came from behind the net and positioned himself perfectly before Joonas Donskoi found him. This time there was a review after by the NHL.  

The Sharks’ lead lasted until 15:23, when Iiro Pakarinen was aided by Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins to send the game to overtime.  

Hall became the hero, scoring the game winner with 1:01 left in OT.

Game notes: Thursday for San Jose will be spent helping 39 underserved families celebrate during the Holiday Assist Party. They then spend one game at home, host to the Minnesota Wild Saturday at 7:30pm.