San Jose, CA – Michal Handzus netted the deciding goal in the shootout as the San Jose Sharks remained unbeaten with a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at HP Pavilion.
"We're fortunate to have him in that situation. He seems to make it count more often than not," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said about Handzus.
After Handzus opened the shootout by beating Devan Dubnyk with a wrister into the top-left corner, both Sam Gagner and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shot wide on their attempts for Edmonton.
Dan Boyle then skated down the ice for a chance to extend San Jose's franchise-best start to a season to 7-0-0, and converted with a wrister inside the left post.
Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski scored in regulation for the Sharks, while Antti Niemi stopped 26 shots.
Gagner and Taylor Hall lit the lamp for Edmonton, which had its two-game win streak snapped.
Dubnyk made 36 saves in defeat.
"It was a great hockey game all around. You never want to lose, but I thought it was an excellent hockey game right through the 65 minutes," Oilers coach Ralph Krueger said.
The first period passed by without a goal as each team failed to capitalize on a power-play opportunity, but the Sharks broke through at the 7:32 mark of the second period when a turnover by Edmonton's Ryan Whitney just outside his own blue line led to a short breakaway by Couture, who ripped a wrister inside the left post.
Less than a minute later, another Edmonton turnover resulted in a breakaway for Pavelski and he finished with a wrister from the right circle that sailed just over the glove of Dubnyk.
The Oilers got a goal back with 9:05 left in the middle stanza with Gagner's deflection of a Mark Fistric shot from the high slot, and later tied the game just 51 seconds into the third period when Hall finished off a 2-on-1 rush with Jordan Eberle by tipping a pass into an open net.
San Jose seemed to have regained the lead 4:24 into the third when Ryane Clowe beat Dubnyk on a breakaway, but the goal was waived off as Clowe was whistled for interference prior to grabbing the puck inside the Edmonton zone.
But the Oilers could not convert on the man advantage and the Sharks failed to net the go-ahead goal on a pair of power plays in the third period to force overtime.
The Sharks controlled most of the action in the extra period, including having a power play for the final 1:15 of overtime, but Dubnyk stopped all seven shots he faced to necessitate a shootout.
Game Notes
Niemi made two saves in overtime ... San Jose is the only unbeaten team remaining in the NHL ... The Sharks improved to 5-0 at home this season ... San Jose has won seven of the last 10 meetings between the teams ... Edmonton went 0-for-3 on the power play ... The Sharks were 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.