Stuart Skinner made 20 saves for his first career shutout while leading the visiting Edmonton Oilers to a 3-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Monday night.
Connor McDavid, Warren Foegele and Darnell Nurse scored goals for Edmonton, which improved to 2-0-0 under new head coach Jay Woodcroft while also moving to 4-0-1 in its past five road games. Evan Bouchard added a pair of assists.
James Reimer stopped 36 of 39 shots for San Jose, which was playing its first game since Feb. 1. It was the fourth shutout at home this season for the Sharks, who are winless in their past four games (0-2-2).
Sharks backup goalie Zach Sawchenko stopped two shots in a brief cameo appearance during the first period when Reimer left for an equipment repair.
Edmonton scored twice in a 65-second span in the first period en route to a 2-0 lead.
Foegele was credited with his first goal in 17 games to make it 1-0 on a double redirect at 6:05. Bouchard fired a shot from the right point that Derek Ryan deflected with his stick in the high slot. The puck then bounced off Foegele stationed in front of the net and also hit the skate of defenseman Radim Simek before landing inside the far post for Foegele's sixth goal of the season.
Nurse then made it 2-0 with a quick wrist shot from the left point that deflected off the stick of Sharks defenseman Nicolas Meloche and into the top left corner of the net. It was Nurse's fifth goal of the season.
McDavid extended Edmonton's lead to 3-0 at the 1:50 mark of the third period with his 24th goal of the season. He sped around defenseman Brent Burns in the middle of the left circle and then fired a wrist shot through Reimer's pads.
The win moved Edmonton within two points of Anaheim for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Oilers, who have three games in hand on the Ducks, also improved to 14-0-0 when scoring first this season.
--Field Level Media
Edmonton | San Jose | |
Evan Bouchard 2 | Points | N/A |
Warren Foegele 1 | Goals | N/A |
Evan Bouchard 2 | Assists | N/A |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Stuart Skinner 1.000 | Save Percentage | Zachary Sawchenko 1.000 |
Stuart Skinner 20 | Saves | James Reimer 36 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Edmonton | 41 | 3 | 0-4 | 4-4 | 10 | 27 |
San Jose | 20 | 0 | 0-4 | 4-4 | 8 | 25 |