Oilers Sink Sharks--In Playoffs

Edmonton's Tom Poti seemed mystified by the sudden turn of events.

"I was just trying not to mess up defensively," the Oilers' defenseman said with wonderment after his overtime goal had given his team a 5-4 victory over San Jose and clinched a playoff berth for Edmonton.

The Oilers won the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot and will play Dallas in the first round.

Poti scored from 15 feet out with 1:05 left in overtime to lift the Oilers to victory in a game in which they twice came from behind in the final period.

"I saw the chance to jump in offensively, and it paid off," said Poti, who has scored just five goals this season. "San Jose wasn't covering me too tight on the point, so I sneaked in, bolted to the net, and he (Doug Weight) put the puck right on my stick and it went into the net."

Edmonton goaltender Tommy Salo was thrilled by his team's comeback.

"I've never seen anything like that before. We just kept coming back. It was unbelievable."

San Jose coach Darryl Sutter, whose Sharks have clinched the No. 7 Western Conference playoff spot, thought his team didn't play a smart game.

"We spent a lot of time killing penalties in the last period, and we weren't able to bring our energy level back up to Edmonton's."

Todd Marchant's second goal of the game, with just 18 seconds left in regulation play, had tied the game 4-4 after San Jose had scored two quick goals to lead with a minute left in regulation play.

After trailing the entire game, the Oilers had taken a 3-2 lead on goals by Rem Murray at 13:47 and Todd Marchant at 14:32 of the third period.

However, the Sharks rallied. First, Victor Korolyuk scored his second goal of the game at 17:02 to tie the score. Oilers goaltender Tommy Salo stopped a shot by Tony Granato, but left the puck at his feet and Korolyuk tapped it in. Then Mike Riccscored from 10 feet out with one minute left in regulation play to give the Sharks a 4-3 advantage.

But Marchant scored from 10 feet out to send the game into overtime.

The Sharks got early first-period goals from Korolyuk and Patrick Marleau to take a 2-0 lead before a goal by Edmonton's Alex Selivanov.

San Jose held that 2-1 lead before the Oilers tied the game on the goal by Murray in the third period. Just 45 seconds later, Marchant took a pass behind the San Jose net, curled around and scored from 12 feet out to give Edmonton its first lead.

The loss was the first in 12 games for San Jose goaltender Steve Shields. He is 9-1-2 in his last 12 starts. Edmonton took 34 shots to 20 for the Sharks.

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