Jeff Skinner did what turned out to be the winning goal and added an assist when Edmonton Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Thursday.
Connor Brown and Viktor Arvidsson also counted for Oilers (44-26-5, 93 points), who won their third straight match. Defender Evan Bouchard had two assists, and Calvin Pickard made 27 rescues.
NHL goalkeeper Leon Draisaitl, who had an assist for Edmonton, remained in the middle of the second period due to an unclear injury and did not return.
Draisaitl has 52 goals this season and 399 for his career. Oilers were already without their other superstar, Connor McDavid, who missed his sixth match with a lower bodily injury.
Defender Jack Thompson and Tyler Toffoli produced the goals for the sharks (20-45-10, 50 points), which lost their fourth match in a row (0-3-1). Defender Mario Ferraro had two assists, and Georgi Romanov stopped 35 shots in an emergency start.
San Jose’s Alexandar Georgiev was planned to start between the pipes, but he was scratched due to an upper body injury earlier in the day. Gabriel Carriere was called from San Jose Barracuda in the AHL to back up Romanov.
Pickard preserved the victory by saving with his mask to deny Collin Graf from the bottom of the left circle with just under a minute left.
Skinner broke a 2-2 tie with 5:03 left in the second period when he tipped in Bouchard’s shot from the left point.
Toffoli had bound the game 8:48 into the middle period on a one -time shot from the track for its team -leading 28th goal.
Arvidsson’s Power-Play goal 2:59 into the second period, on a one-time slapshot, made it 2-1 Oilers. Draisaitl picked up an assist on the game.
Brown opened the score 6:22 into the game when he took a pass from Skinner at San Jose Blue Line, shared the defense for a break and beat Romanov. It was Brown’s second goal in his last 22 games.
It only took 1:48 for Thompson to bind the game 1-1 on a one-hour from the upper part of the left circle.
Romanov saved a blocker, moved from left to right, on Draisaitl’s disposable shot from the left circle on a two-on-a-rush.
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