Draisaitl leaves Oilers win against Sharks with lower-body injury

SAN JOSE -- Leon Draisaitl had an assist before leaving in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers' 3-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Thursday because of a lower-body injury.

Draisaitl was playing in his third game since returning from an undisclosed injury that caused him to miss four games.

"You never want to miss those guys," OIlers coach Kris Knoblauch said. You never want your top players not to play because every time they're not in, it decreases your chances of winning because they are good players. What happens is other guys have some opportunities to play, get some confidence, hopefully score some goals, because we're going to need them."

Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist, and Evan Bouchard had two assists for the Oilers (44-26-5), who have won three straight. Calvin Pickard made 27 saves.

Edmonton remained two points behind the Los Angeles Kings for second in the Pacific Division. The Kings defeated the Utah Hockey Club 4-2 on Thursday.

"Obviously, we’ve had some injuries to key guys. It’s a lot of opportunity for other guys to step up, and I think guys have done a good job so far," Skinner said. "We're going to have to continue that and keep working together to get the results we want."

Jack Thompson and Tyler Toffoli scored for the Sharks (20-45-10), who have lost four straight (0-3-1). Mario Ferraro had two assists, and Georgi Romanov made 35 saves.

"I liked our effort," San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. "I thought we were competing, I thought we were doing the things that we've talked about here lately. It just wasn't enough."

Connor Brown gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead at 6:22 of the first period. Brown took a pass from Skinner in the neutral zone, skated between two Sharks defenders as he crossed the blue line, and beat Romanov over his glove on a breakaway.

Thompson tied the game 1-1 at 8:10 with a one-timer from the top of the right circle off a pass from Alexander Wennberg from below the goal line.

"Wennberg made a great play coming behind the net there, and I saw a little open space, so just try to jump into a little hole there," Thompson said.

Viktor Arvidsson put the Oilers back in front 2-1 with a power-play goal at 2:59 of the second period. Draisaitl passed the puck from the right face-off dot into the high slot, where Arvidsson scored with a one-time over the blocker of Romanov.

Draisaitl played just two more shifts following the goal.

"Sometimes when guys go down other guys got to step up. With playoffs coming up, it's good for guys to get some extra minutes and some reps," Brown said. "Who knows, maybe it's a good thing as long as those guys are OK, which I'm sure they are."

Toffoli tied the game 2-2 at 8:48. Macklin Celebrini sent a spinning pass from the right point down to Ferraro, who then sent a backhand feed to Toffoli for a one-timer from the left hash marks.

Skinner responded for the Oilers to make it 3-2 at 14:57 of the second. He deflected Bouchard's wrist shot from the point past Romanov's blocker.

NOTE: Thompson scored the 51st goal by a Sharks rookie this season, which is the most among all teams and 20 more than the next closest (Anaheim Ducks).