SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Bank the two points. Burn the tape.
The San Jose Sharks survived some wild momentum swings, a host of their own miscues and perhaps a bit of hubris Saturday night to pull out a desperately needed 6-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers at SAP Center.
Defenseman Joakim Ryan scored the first two goals of his NHL career, including the game-winner with 2:27 left in the third period, and Joe Pavelski added two goals and two assists as the Sharks ended a three-game home winless streak.
It was way a more dramatic finish than it had to be.
On their way to a rare laugher on home ice, the Sharks instead coughed up a three-goal lead in the second period and fell behind by one at the 1:21 mark of the third as Oilers defenseman Brandon Davidson scored his fifth goal of the season. Sharks forward Tomas Hertl got that goal back just 2:20 later to tie the score 4-4.
Resiliency? More like survival against a Pacific Division also-ran, as the Sharks killed off two penalties late in the third period to preserve the tie.
The Sharks got goals from Ryan and Pavelski in the first 7:21 of the first period to take a 2-0 lead, then saw their fourth line take advantage of an Oilers turnover to take a 3-0 lead on Barclay Goodrow's fifth goal of the season at the 2;30 mark of the second period.
With major assists from the Sharks, the Oilers stole the momentum and scored three unanswered goals of their own in a span of 9:13 to tie the game.
Perhaps with the Sharks feeling their oats, an errant pass from Mikkel Boedker to no one in particular to the Sharks' blue line set up a breakaway for Zach Kassian, who couldn't beat Sharks goalie Aaron Dell on his first shot but collected his own rebound to score at the 8:49 mark.
Slightly more than five minutes later, Chris Tierney then had the puck stripped off his stick as he skated toward the Oilers net. Yohann Auvitu picked it up and sent a long pass off the boards to Kassian, who streaked in alone and scored with a backhand shot that slipped under Dell's pads. The comeback was completed at the 18:02 mark of the second, with scoring his 15th of the season with 1:58 to go in the second.
The Sharks know the importance of every game from here on out, particularly with the Pacific Division being as tight as it is. Entering Saturday, one point separated second through fifth place, with Los Angeles at 65 points and San Jose, Calgary and Anaheim all at 64.
It behooved the Sharks, then, to capitalize on the chance to play teams that are well out of the playoff picture.
The Sharks host Arizona on Tuesday and Vancouver on Thursday, the first two games of a three-game homestand next that wraps up with a game against the much-more formidable Dallas Stars.
Teams that make the playoffs typically beat the teams that don't make the playoffs, and the Sharks have put points in the bank against non-contenders in recent weeks.
Coming into Saturday, since the start of January, the Sharks had a 4-1-2 record against teams that are presently out of a playoff spot.
"Every point is important, so the ones that we're expected to win, we really have to bear down and get those points," Dell said Saturday morning. "You can't underestimate anybody. Every team in this league is good, they all have good players. Even teams that you're expected to beat are still hard games sometimes."
The Oilers were coming off losses to Los Angeles and Anaheim at the start of their California swing but had previously won five of their last seven. They entered Saturday 14 points out of a playoff position, but don't tell Sharks coach Pete DeBoer that Edmonton's done.
"These guys aren't out of it," DeBoer said Saturday morning. "I don't think anyone's out of it and I'm sure they're not saying they're out of it, I think they're sitting there going, 'We've got to string together 10 wins in a row.' As a result of that, I've been there, you've got a team that's ultra-competitive, ultra-desperate and dangerous."
_ Forward Joel Ward said Saturday he' optimistic he can return sometime this season after his right shoulder was injured two days before in a hard collision against the boards at SAP Center.
Ward had to leave Thursday's game against the Vegas Golden Knights after he absorbed a hard hit from Nate Schmidt in the second period. Although the shoulder remains stiff, Ward said he will not need surgery and that the injury started to feel better the next day.
Ward said he was "a little worried at first, for sure, but kind of woke up a lot better. Just get some treatment done again and hopefully get back in, hopefully soon, but I don't know when."
Jannik Hansen took Ward's spot in the lineup as a winger on the Sharks' fourth line Saturday.
