McDavid's OT Goal Leads Oilers Past Sharks, 2-1
SAN JOSE (AP) — Connor McDavid scored 31 seconds into overtime to extend his points streak to 14 games and the Edmonton Oilers rallied to beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 on Tuesday night for their fifth straight win.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tied it with a short-handed goal with 8:04 remaining in regulation before McDavid won it.
Mike Smith made a save early in overtime and sent the puck ahead for McDavid, who raced in on a breakaway and beat James Reimer for the winner. McDavid has 12 goals and 15 assists during his points streak.
The victory gave the Oilers a five-point lead over Vegas in the race for third place in the Pacific Division.
Smith made 31 saves for the Oilers.
Tomas Hertl scored a power-play goal in the first period but the Sharks were unable to hold onto the lead and lost their fourth straight. Reimer made 22 saves.
San Jose had a chance to add onto the lead with the power play midway through the third period. But the top unit failed to generate and then the second unit let the Oilers tie it when Nugent-Hopkins finished after pretty passes from Darnell Nurse and Zach Hyman set him up at the side of the net.
San Jose capitalized on a power play in the first period when Brent Burns set up Hertl for a one-timer from the circle. Hertl beat Smith for his 27th goal of the season.
SITTING OUT
The Oilers played without 50-goal scorer Leon Draisaitl, who sat out a day after he missed practice for what was called a "maintenance day." Draisaitl took part in an optional skate Tuesday morning but wasn't able to play in the game.
Draisaitl reached the 50-goal mark for the second time in his career on Sunday in Anaheim. He has a 12-game points streak with 12 goals and 10 assists in that span. His absence ends his streak of 354 consecutive outings that started on Oct. 24, 2017.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
The Sharks played four rookies — forwards Jonah Gadjovich, Scott Reedy and Sasha Chmelevski, and defenseman Ryan Merkley — to give them 373 games played by rookies this season. That surpassed the 1992-93 and 2005-06 seasons for the second most in franchise history to the 491 games played by rookies in the 1991-92 expansion season.
KNOCKED OUT
Sharks forward John Leonard left the game early in the second period after blocking a shot with his foot and didn't return.
UP NEXT
Oilers: At Los Angeles on Thursday night.
Sharks: Host Calgary on Thursday night.
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