David Desharnais scored late in the first overtime to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks Thursday, pushing San Jose to the brink of elimination in the NHL playoffs.
Desharnais, in the slot, one-timed a Leon Draisaitl cross-ice pass past Sharks goaltender Martin Jones to cap an overtime session dominated by Edmonton.
The Oilers lead the Western Conference quarter-final series 3-2, with Game 6 Saturday night in San Jose.
The series winner takes on the Anaheim Ducks in the second round.
Patrick Maroon, Mark Letestu, and Oscar Klefbom also scored for Edmonton. Mikkel Boedker, Patrick Marleau, and David Schlemko replied for San Jose.
The Oilers — looking for a bounce-back game after an epic 7-0 beat-down by the Sharks in Game 4 — dominated the first 10 minutes, energized by the deafening roar of the orange and blue-clad fans at Rogers Place.
Edmonton took a 1-0 lead at 5:28 when Maroon, standing at the edge of the crease, corralled a rebound off a Matt Benning shot to sweep the puck past Sharks goalie Martin Jones.
The Oilers also hit three goal posts — two by Darnell Nurse and one by Jordan Eberle — before San Jose responded at the midway point of the period.
Marcus Sorensen slap-passed the puck from the blue line to Chris Tierney, who then redirected the puck through the top of the crease to Boedker. Boedker then wristed the puck into an open net to complete the tic-tac-toe play.
The Sharks made it 2-1 with just over four minutes to go in the period. Taking advantage of a bad Oilers line change, Joe Thornton and Marleau broke in over the blue line on a two-on-one. Thornton’s wrist shot leaked through Oilers goalie Cam Talbot and dribbled to the goal line, where Marleau stuffed it in.
The Sharks made it 3-1 just under nine minutes into the second period. A wrist shot by Schlemko from the blue line fluttered its way through a crowd in the crease and over Talbot’s right shoulder.
The Oilers cut the lead to 3-2 on the power play with less than two minutes left in the second period, with Brent Burns in the penalty box for delay of game.
Draisaitl backhanded the puck through a clutch of bodies in the slot to Letestu for a one-timer under the crossbar.
The Sharks smothered the Oilers attack for most of the third period until Klefbom blasted a shot from the blue line to tie the game with less than three minutes to play.
