Photo courtesy of San Jose Sharks. The Sharks celebrate a victory (taken on 7/11/23).

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

SAN JOSE- The Sharks took on Edmonton at home and were able to extend their winning streak to two with a win by a final of 3-2.

In goal for San Jose was Mackenzie Blackwood while Stuart Skinner was between the pipes for Edmonton.

Tonight also saw the debut of Calen Addison in a Sharks jersey as he was acquired from the Minnesota Wild the day before.

The first period saw Edmonton’s power play get to work early as just a couple minutes in Nikita Okhotiuk took a penalty for slashing. Instead of creating chances they were giving up them up as William Eklund got a breakaway but was stifled by Skinner.

Things remained pretty even until Fabian Zetterlund broke things open with a one time goal from the slot on a nice pass from Tomas Hertl. The goal was Zetterlund’s fourth of the season as Eklund was also given an assist on the goal.

At the end of the first the shots favored Edmonton 14-6.

The second period did not get off to a good start for the home team as Darnell Nurse sniped one home on a 2-on-1 tying the game up at one.

Edmonton continued to push but Blackwood made some solid saves as he helped keep the score tied.

The Sharks responded with a goal as Hertl benefitted off of a lucky bounce out front that went right to him making it 2-1. It was Hertl’s second of the season with Zetterlund and Okhotiuk getting the assists.

Closing out the second the shots still favored Edmonton at 24-14.

The third ended up being quite the opposite of the second as just a couple minutes in on a 2-on-1 Filip Zadina scored off a feed from Nico Sturm. The goal was Zadina’s third of the season with Ryan Carpenter also getting credited for an assist.

San Jose then got a great opportunity to extend their lead on the power play but took a penalty of their own making it a 4-on-4 for 28 seconds.

It then came down to crunch time as the Sharks tried to hold on to their 3-1 lead. With the goalie pulled Edmonton got within one as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored on a juicy rebound getting his third of the season.

Granlund then took a tripping penalty putting Edmonton in prime territory to tie the game up. Blackwood and the Sharks defense though stood strong killing off the penalty and holding on for the victory.

At the end of the day this was another game were Blackwood single-handedly kept San Jose in it as he made 39 saves on 41 shots. Ending his night with a 2.00 GAA and 951 SV%.

Both teams power plays were nonexistent tonight as the Oilers went 0/4 while San Jose went 0/2.

With this loss the Oilers fall to 2-9-1 which is their worst start in franchise history and ties them for last in the league with the Sharks.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: Mackenzie Blackwood 2nd: Tomas Hertl 3rd: Fabian Zetterlund

The Sharks will not get much time to rest as they will play Vegas tomorrow at 7 p.m. on the road.