EDMONTON, Alberta _ Life without Logan Couture proved to be as challenging as expected Monday night.
With Couture sidelined by a concussion, the San Jose Sharks (17-11-4) struggled to generate offense for large chunks of their game against the Edmonton Oilers (15-17-2), producing just 21 shots on goal. They also missed their top scorer's presence on the defensive side of the puck as the Oilers closed the gap in the Pacific Division to six points with a 5-3 win.
"He's tough to replace, no doubt about it," captain Joe Pavelski said. "He takes a line and drives it when he's out there. Special teams, all that stuff that he does, it's tough to replace."
Despite the absence of their top-defensive forward, the Sharks managed to keep the NHL's reigning scoring champion, Connor McDavid, off the scoreboard. Instead, they got beat by the Oilers' second and third lines.
The Oilers went into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead thanks to a pair of nifty passes by Leon Draisaitl, who centered the team's third line.
Draisaitl set up Mark Letestu with a one-timer in the left circle just after a Sharks penalty expired at 14:42 of the first.
With 1:09 left in the period, Draisaitl gave Ryan Strome a look into a gaping net, sliding over a cross-ice pass in front of the crease after he received a feed from Jujhar Khaira at the side of the net.
The Oilers' second line added to the lead at 6:36 of the middle frame. Drake Caggiula scored his fourth, poking in a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins pass from the side boards after he burned past Pavelski streaking to the net.
The Nugent-Hopkins line also scored an insurance goal with 11:37 left in the third, making it 4-2 when Pat Maroon blasted a slapshot into the top-right corner from the left circle on the rush.
"The difference in the game was the depth," head coach Pete DeBoer said, noting that the Sharks lineup was "thin" without Couture.
"Others guys have got to get up. They didn't get the job done ... the fourth line got pinned in their zone for extended periods to the point that we couldn't really play them. Then, you overuse other guys."
Maroon also brought some playfulness to the game, tugging on Brent Burns' scraggly beard as they fell to the ice in a scrum near the net.
"It wasn't really a tug, he was just kind of petting it," Burns said. "It's a nice beard."
The Sharks' second-ranked defense is starting to show some cracks, surrendering four or more goals for the sixth time in eight games, producing a 3.63 goals-against average over that span.
The game also represented the sixth consecutive game in which goalie Martin Jones has surrendered four or more goals.
"We've just got to stay a little tighter in the dzone," defenseman Justin Braun said. "We're getting a little loose, leaving maybe a little early."
DeBoer said the Sharks' defensive woes are a product of his team's recent tendency to fall behind early. The Sharks have found themselves trailing in the first period of six of their last seven games.
"You're getting behind in games and you open it up," the Sharks coach said. "It obviously creates some more offense, but you obviously give up some more, too. That's probably the biggest thing."
Team Teal did manage to put three goals on the board, the sixth consecutive game in which they've scored three or more.
Pavelski opened the scoring on the power play at 6:15 of the first, marking the sixth consecutive game in which the Sharks' resurgent power play has found the net. Burns got the play started by finding Kevin Labanc, who earned the primary assist, with a cross-ice pass, his 14th point in 14 games.
Tomas Hertl scored the Sharks' second goal, his eighth, in the second, and Marcus Sorensen scored his second goal in as many games in the third.
Labanc recorded two assists in the loss.
_ The Sharks reassigned defenseman Joakim Ryan to the AHL Barracuda Monday, opening up a roster spot to activate Mikkel Boedker from the injured reserve. Boedker had missed seven games with a lower-body injury.
The move suggests the Sharks aren't closing the door on the possibility that Couture could be healthy enough to play when the team returns to action at SAP Center on Thursday. Had the Sharks made room for Boedker by placing Couture in the injured reserve, he wouldn't have been eligible to rejoin the lineup until Saturday.
