McDavid has 4 assists, Oilers clinch playoff berth with win against Sharks

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid had four assists for the Edmonton Oilers, who clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 4-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place on Friday.

Evan Bouchard had a goal and an assist, and Adam Henrique added two assists for the Oilers (46-28-5), who had lost two of their previous three games. Calvin Pickard made 23 saves.

“He’s made a huge difference. He’s the best player in the world for a reason,” Oilers forward Corey Perry said of McDavid, who assisted on seven of Edmonton’s last eight goals in two games since missing eight games due to injury (lower body). “He’s come in and looked like Connor McDavid and we don’t expect anything different. That’s who he is and that’s how he plays each and every night.”

Edmonton is in third place in the Pacific Division, two points behind the Los Angeles Kings.

“The NHL schedule is a grind, especially after the season we had last year, going so late, there's disappointment and there's a lot on guys minds that we're going to do this (get to finals) again,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, whose team reached Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final a season ago. “But we're not doing it for several, many months later. You still have to play 82 games and we've done a pretty good job of battling through that mental fatigue.

“Then as you get closer to playoff time, like in the last few weeks, you're thinking of who you might be playing, and the importance of winning games to get into the playoffs. Unfortunate, the injury aspect, losing so many guys, but this is an exciting time.”

Will Smith and Henry Thrun scored for the Sharks (20-48-11), who have lost eight straight games (0-6-2). Georgi Romanov made 30 saves.

“We got off to a slow start, but we got it going there and had good chances, good chances to tie it up so I give a lot of credit to our group, they continue to compete,” Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “They’re not looking at the record, they just want to compete and play for each other and that’s something we can tip our cap to.”

Bouchard put Edmonton ahead 1-0 on the power play at 6:47 of the first period, one-timing a 91.3 mph slap shot from the high slot off a pass from McDavid in past Romanov, after it deflected off the stick of Sharks forward Alexander Wennberg.

Ty Emberson made it 2-0 at 15:41, sending a cross-crease pass to the side of the net from McDavid past Romanov’s glove for his first goal of the season.

“He can score or get an assist every shift so it’s fun to watch, it’s great to have him, obviously,” Pickard said of McDavid. “I think he’s pretty important to us. He’s been great, he leads by example, he leads in the locker room. Best player in the world.”

Smith closed the gap to 2-1 at 17:13, scoring short side on Pickard with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle to extend his goal streak to four games (five goals).

Thrun tied it 2-2 5:44 into the second period, sending a sharp angle shot from the left boards in off Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse’s left skate.

“I thought we gave a good effort especially in the second and third, our goalie played well, he kept us in it,” Thrun said. “That’s a good team, you kind of let up for one period and that’s going to be the result.”

Perry put Edmonton ahead 3-2 at 7:32 of the third period, digging at a loose puck near Romanov’s pad after the Sharks goalie stopped a wrist shot by McDavid.

Connor Brown scored into an empty net at 19:34 for the 4-2 final.

“We’ve been out of the playoffs for a while, but you can see right now, everyone is fighting for one another,” Wennberg said. “This game, obviously, they have a lot to play for, but we’re digging in, we want to be a part of it and we want to give them a hell of a challenge and I felt today we did that.

“Obviously, we want to come away with the win, we’re a little bit disappointed. But it’s still a good team effort, for sure.”

NOTES: Smith extended his goal streak to four games and matched Rob Gaudreau (1992-93) and Devin Setoguchi (2007-08) for the third longest by a Sharks rookie. The only players with a longer run for San Jose are Jeff Friesen (five games in 1994-95) and Melker Karlsson (five games in 2014-15). Smith pushed his point streak to four games (five goals, three assists) ... McDavid became the fourth player in NHL history to record five consecutive 70-assist seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky (13), Bobby Orr (6) and Adam Oates (5). He also joins Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as the only players to record seven 70-assist seasons. ... McDavid factored in on a game-opening goal for the 165th time in his career, passing Gretzky (164) for the most instances in Oilers history. ... Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm left for the dressing room 6:41 into the first period, after playing 1:25 of ice time across two shifts. He sat out the previous seven games with an undisclosed injury. Forward Zach Hyman followed shortly after. ... The Sharks were also short defensemen after Jack Thompson did not come out following the first intermission and Timothy Liljegren headed down the tunnel with 3:38 left in the second period.