Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Jerry Feitelberg

The San Jose Sharks won their fourth game in a row Tuesday night at home, destroying the Edmonton Oilers 7-2 to stay three points behind division-leading Vegas with two games in hand.

Evander Kane and Joonas Donskoi scored two goals, Erik Karlsson picked up three assists, registering a 14th straight appearance with an assist. Marcus Sorensen scored a penalty shot goal for San Jose, Timo Meier and Brent Burns, also had multi-point efforts for San Jose and Aaron Dell made 20 saves. Alex Chiasson and Milan Lucic scored for the Oilers, who have lost eight of their last 10.

The Sharks scored enough goals to win in the first period alone, exiting the period up 3-1. Evander Kane redirected a puck off an Oiler skate behind starting goalie Cam Talbot 6:37 into the game with a Tomas Hertl and Erik Karlsson assisting on the wing’s 15th goal of the year. Kane now has points in six consecutive games. Marcus Sorensen converted his penalty shot chance with 7:03 left in the period and Joonas Donskoi scored just under a minute after Chiasson scored a power play goal with 5:25 left in the frame.

San Jose picked up where they left off in the second, with Kane this time redirecting the puck off his own skate past Talbot 6:32 into the middle frame. Brent Burns and Timo Meier assisted on the goal for a 4-1 lead. Milan Lucic scored just his second goal of the year 10:18 into the second, but Brent Burns power play strike at 15:37 restored the 3 goal cushion and eventually chased Talbot from the game. Talbot made 13 saves before yielding the net to Mikko Koskinen.

Joe Thornton scored on an intended pass to Lukas Radil 1:04 into the third and Donskoi scored his seventh goal in six games at the 10:44 mark to kick the extra point. Erik Karlsson assisted on the goal to collect his third multiassist game in a row.

The Sharks hit the road to face the Pacific division leaders Vegas Thursday night at 7:00 pm. The Golden Knights have won their last seven.