Stephen Ellison

Sharks Shut Out Again; Oilers Take 2-1 Series Lead

SAN JOSE – Joe Thornton made his return to the lineup, but it didn’t help the Sharks offense in a 1-0 loss to the Oilers in Game 3 of their first round series on Sunday night at SAP Center.

The Oilers have won the last two games after San Jose claimed the opener.

The only goal came with 9:15 to go in the third period. David Schlemko turned the puck over to Zack Kassian, who pushed a backhand from the slot through Martin Jones to break the scoreless tie.

It was the second straight game that Kassian found the scoresheet, including a shorthanded goal in Edmonton’s Game 2 win on Friday.

The Sharks have not scored since Melker Karlsson’s overtime winner in Game 1.

The Sharks are 3-10 when trailing a series two-games-to-one in their history. In NHL history, when teams are tied 1-1 in a series, the winner of Game 3 wins the series 67.6 percent of the time (202-97 record).

In their first home game of the series, the Sharks came out hitting everything in sight after losing the physicality battle in games one and two. They also dominated territorially, but Joe Pavelski missed an open net on a backhand from the slot less than five minutes in, and Chris Tierney fired high on a partial breakaway with six-and-a-half minutes to go.

Play evened out to start the second before Edmonton started to press. Connor McDavid generated a pair of chances with about four minutes to go, but his wraparound try was thwarted by Jones, and Patrick Maroon couldn’t find a handle on the loose puck.

Jones swallowed up a McDavid one-time shortly after that, keeping it scoreless with 3:38 to go before the second intermission.

The Sharks outshot the Oilers 13-6 in the first period, but Edmonton registered 12 of the 16 total shots in the middle frame. The Sharks outshot the Oilers for the game, 23-22.

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