Heatley Leads Sharks Past Oilers, 4-3
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) ― Dany Heatley had two goals and an assist and the San Jose Sharks held off the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 on Saturday night.
Benn Ferriero and Joe Pavelski also scored for San Jose. The Sharks are 11-7-4 overall and 4-4-2 on the road after winning for the first time away from San Jose since beating Edmonton on Oct. 23.
Sam Gagner, Shawn Horcoff and Jim Vandermeer scored for Edmonton. The Oilers have lost eight of their last 10 games to drop to 6-12-4.
It only took the Sharks 1:10 to open the scoring. Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk was able to make a pad save on a shot by Justin Braun, but Ferriero was left untouched to backhand in the rebound.
It was the first goal of the season for Ferriero, who was called up from San Jose's AHL affiliate in Worcester, Mass., for the game.
Edmonton was able to even just 3 minutes later on a power play. Gagner made a nice move on Braun to get a backhand shot on Sharks starter Antero Niittymaki and then shoveled home his own rebound.
The Sharks regained the lead 2 minutes into the second period on a power play. Joe Thornton spotted Heatley poised to unleash a slap shot and he blew his 10th of the season past Dubnyk to make it 2-1.
San Jose took a two-goal lead with 3 minutes left in the second on Heatley's second goal. He banked a backhand shot from behind the net off Dubnyk's heel.
The Sharks gave themselves a three-goal cushion midway through the third when the Oilers turned it over deep in their zone and Patrick Marleau nudged the puck to Pavelski, who beat Dubnyk high to the glove side.
Edmonton made a game of it with two goals less than a minute apart with 7 minutes to play.
Niittymaki made a save on Jordan Eberle's shot, but Horcoff was there to send the big rebound into the net. It was suddenly 4-3 when Vandermeer scored 57 seconds later on a long blast from the point.
NOTES: Sharks defenseman Niclas Wallin had to be helped of the ice early in the first after a collision with Andrew Cogliano. Wallin didn't return. ... Edmonton forward Dustin Penner earned his 100th NHL assist.
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