Oilers Look to Extend Dominance Over Struggling Sharks

The Edmonton Oilers have owned the San Jose Sharks for the better part of two seasons. Today's game at SAP Center gives them another chance to prove it. Edmonton travels to San Jose looking to extend a seven-game winning streak against the Sharks that has seen them outscore San Jose 31-11.

Expand the sample size even further, and the dominance becomes absurd. The Oilers have won 15 of their last 16 games against the Sharks, outscoring them 71-29 in that span. The Sharks entered that stretch as a competitive opponent. They've left it as target practice for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

Sharks Spiraling

San Jose couldn't be in worse form heading into this matchup. The Sharks are mired in a four-game losing streak that was extended in a 4-1 defeat to the Calgary Flames. The Sharks took an early 1-0 lead when Tyler Toffoli scored in the second period, but they couldn't hold it.

Calgary responded with four unanswered goals to hand San Jose another deflating loss. The Sharks haven't beaten Edmonton since January 2024, and nothing about their current play suggests that drought will end tonight. But the Oilers are as hungry as they come.

Just last game, they demolished the Los Angeles Kings 8-1 to break their own four-game losing streak, which saw Leon Draisaitl score four points. The crushing 6-5 loss to the Anaheim Ducks is already weighing heavily on Edmonton. It was the Oilers' first game after the Olympic break.

Oilers Bounce Back Strong

But the Oilers squandered multiple two-goal leads against Anaheim before giving up the game-winner with 72 seconds remaining. Head coach Kris Knoblauch praised his team's ability to respond when it matters most.

"When things are on the line, and they need a bounce-back game, they usually respond really well," Knoblauch said.

The coach was pleased with how his team performed against Los Angeles after the disappointing loss.

"We were a little disappointed with how the previous games had gone, especially the one the night before in Anaheim, but I thought we played a really good game, scored some goals," he said. "But more importantly, I thought we checked really well."