EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Mattias Janmark scored twice, Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists and the Edmonton Oilers closed the regular season with a franchise-record ninth straight victory, 5-2 over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.
Evan Bouchard and Evander Kane also scored and Stuart Skinner made 27 saves. The Oilers were 14-0-1 in their last 15 to finish 50-23-9. They will open the playoff against the Los Angeles Kings.
“We feel good about our game heading into the most important time of the year,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, the NHL champion in goals (64), assists (89) and points (153).
“Even if there wasn’t stuff on the line we wanted to finish strong. “It was a good regular season, individually and for the team, now is the fun time.
Skinner up his 29th victory in net, surpassing Grant Fuhr (1981-82) for the franchise record for wins in a rookie season.
“It means a lot to be recognized in the same sentence as Grant Fuhr,” Skinner said. “Growing up in Edmonton, all you heard about is how fantastic of a goalie he is and how competitive he was. He’s a Hall of Fame goalie, one of the best goalies to play the game, so it’s a really cool moment.”
Noah Gregor and Steven Lorentz scored for San Jose. They lost their last six to finish 22-44-16.
“You look at our record and can jump to a lot of conclusions, but I loved coaching this group and I thought they came to work every day and were a fun group to coach,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “They worked hard and were coachable. At the end of the day, we just weren’t good enough and we know that and we are going to get better.:
Janmark opened the scoring 4: 16 into the opening period when he cut in on net with a backhander that pinballed past James Reimer.
Edmonton’s power play struck 6: 56 into the first. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins feathered a pass through the crease to Draisaitl, who slammed home his 52nd goal. McDavid picked up an assist on the play to extend his points streak to 16 games.
Gregor put the Sharks on the board midway through the first when he lifted a rebound over Skinner for his 10th of the season.
Bouchard restored the Oilers’ two-goal edge 5: 02 into the second period.
Janmark made it 4-1 with six minutes left in the middle frame. It was Edmonton’s league-leading 18th short-handed goal of the season.
San Jose hung around with a power-play goal with just over a minute to play in the second when Lorentz tipped home a Tomas Hertl shot for his 10th.
Draisaitl made another pretty pass with 4: 05 remaining in the third period to set up Kane’s 16th.
UP NEXT
Oilers: Vs. Los Angeles Kings in first round of playoffs.
Sharks: End of season.
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