Sekera Scores 2 Goals, Leads Surging Oilers Past Sharks 4-1
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Andrej Sekera scored two goals and the surging Edmonton Oilers extended their point streak to eight games by beating the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Thursday night.
Edmonton ended San Jose's six-game winning streak and tied the Sharks for the Pacific Division lead heading into the All-Star break. Both teams have 64 points, one more than Anaheim.
Oilers goalie Cam Talbot played brilliantly in earning his 26th win of the season. He made several point-blank saves and stopped 32 of 33 shots.
Drake Caggiula and Connor McDavid also scored for the Oilers, who improved to 7-0-1 over their last eight games. The only loss during that span came to Nashville in a shootout.
Logan Couture scored for the Sharks, and Martin Jones made 18 saves.
Couture gave the Sharks a lead four minutes in. Couture originally won the puck and passed up to Patrick Marleau, who carried it across the blue line before passing to Mikkel Boedker, who returned the puck for Couture to sneak it past Talbot on the glove side.
Sekera tied the score in the waning seconds of the first period, firing a shot that deflected off Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
Sekera added a power-play goal late in the second on a shot that rattled off a defender and the post into the net.
Caggiula scored off his own effort, taking the puck away from the Sharks and beating Jones. McDavid added an empty-net goal.
NOTES: Sharks GM Doug Wilson became the fourth person to play in at least 1,000 NHL games and serve at least 1,000 games as a general manager. ... Sharks C Tomas Hertl returned to the ice after missing 32 games with a knee injury. ... Couture scored his 16th goal against the Oilers, his most vs. any NHL team. ... McDavid has at least one point in 10 of his last 12 games. ... Oilers C Leon Draisaitl extended his point streak to six games.
UP NEXT
Oilers: Open the second half at home Tuesday night against the Minnesota Wild.
Sharks: Open the second half at home against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.