The Sharks have rebounded from back-to-back shutouts in emphatic fashion to beat the Edmonton Oilers 7-0 in San Jose to tie their NHL first-round playoff series at 2-2.
Joe Pavelski took just 15 seconds on Tuesday night to end San Jose's two-game scoring drought. Once that first puck went in, a bag of goals followed.
Pavelski and Logan Couture each scored twice.
"We were just ready," Pavelski said. "Everyone was ready. We've been there ... there weren't really any lapses in our game."
After being throttled by the younger and faster Oilers in the past two games, the Sharks went back to the same successful formula that carried them to last year's Stanley Cup final.
Pavelski scored on a pair of deflections, the previously dormant power play scored four times and San Jose held Connor McDavid off the scoresheet for the second straight game. They will try to carry that over into Game 5 on Thursday night in Edmonton.
"We know we need to win this one going into the next game on the road," centre Chris Tierney said.
"I thought we had a sense that there was no chance that we're not coming out of this game without a win. I thought we were pretty desperate tonight and it showed up."
Patrick Marleau, Marcus Sorensen and David Schlemko also scored for San Jose, Brent Burns had three assists and Martin Jones made 23 saves for his fourth playoff shutout. It all added up to the most lopsided playoff win in Sharks history and biggest shutout win in 10 years in the NHL.
Cam Talbot was pulled after allowing five goals on 24 shots and the frustration boiled over for the Oilers with Leon Draisaitl drawing a game misconduct for spearing Chris Tierney.
"We were bad tonight, obviously," McDavid said. "That's not our team - that's not our game. We haven't played like that all year. It's a one-off."
Couture, who led the NHL in playoff scoring last year, missed the final seven games of the regular season and hadn't been at his usual form to start this series. He wore a cage to protect his mouth in the first two games before going back to a half-visor for Game 3.
Facing elimination in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round playoffs, the Columbus Blue Jackets started aggressively and held off the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4.
Columbus still trail 3-1 in the series, which shifts back to Pittsburgh on Thursday night for Game 5.
Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves and Rick Nash scored the deciding goal in the second period, as the New York Rangers defeated Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in Game 4 of their first-round series.
The Rangers evened the best-of-seven series at 2-2, with Game 5 also on Thursday night in Montreal.
Share
