The Edmonton Oilers enjoyed their first overtime victory in the Stanley Cup playoffs in ages. Due to the Oilers' recently-ended playoff drought, you have to go all the way back to Fernando Pisani's overtime goal in game five of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals to find overtime magic going Edmonton's way. That game came from Raleigh, Carolina but Thursday night's game saw Edmonton win on home ice in the downtown area of the Alberta capital.
Edmonton stages a comeback victory
The Oilers were in tough in the match as they fell behind 3-1 in the second period.
However, Mark Letestu had a late goal in the same frame, one that Connor McDavid assisted on. In a tense third period, San Jose's 3-2 game lead looked like it was going to create a 3-2 lead for them in the series outright. However, Oscar Klefbom of Edmonton tied the game late with a laser from five feet inside the blue line. That tied the game at three with less than three minutes to play as the game neared to overtime.
In the overtime session, the Oilers were clearly the dominant team as the Sharks were caught on their back feet for almost the entire period. Martin Jones of the San Jose Sharks largely kept his side in the game as he was sharp in turning back several Edmonton-Oiler scoring chances, including a point-blank chance that Leon Draisaitl failed to capitalize on.
In the end, the German-born player did factor into the deciding goal as he assisted on the game winner, one that was David Desharnais scored. The result gave Edmonton a 3-2 lead in the series, and they could wrap it up on Saturday night to book a second-round series against the Anaheim Ducks.
Edmonton's betting odds
According to an article, I wrote back in late June of 2016; the Oilers were lengthy longshots to win the Stanley Cup.
At that time odds of 90 to 1 were available with Paddy Power. Currently, Edmonton is 13 to 2 with the same firm as the franchise has come a long way in the last year. If they do in fact survive the Sharks, then it will be interesting to see how they do against Anaheim.
The Oilers have looked rock solid on many occasions and, on others, they have looked undeserving of the playoffs.
But the bottom line is that Edmonton has two chances to get to the second round with the sportsbooks considering them 4th or 5th favorites for the Stanley Cup now.
Destiny in the playoffs can change in a heartbeat, and Edmonton can't take a San Jose slide for granted. However, the Sharks are dealing with having to bounce back from losing a 3-1 lead as they look to even the series on Saturday.
