Neville E. Guard - USA TODAY Sports
NHL

EP Rinkside 3 Stars: Sorry, sorry

I am really, really trying to resist the urge to make this entire article about how the Edmonton Oilers lost to the San Jose Sharks — and not just lost, but never led. Part of the reason for that is my suspicion that between the time I finish writing this and the time you, the beautiful kind perfect EP Rinkside subscriber, are reading this, there will be more than one firing and a couple trades made.

This is a Sharks team that just a week or two ago, we were talking about, "Is this the worst team of all time?" and the Oilers, who somehow still have a better than 50 percent chance to make the playoffs, didn't actually spend much time being in this game. There was a stretch of something like 13 minutes in the second period where Edmonton didn't have a single shot on goal.

And all you need to know about this one is that it ended with the Sharks on a two-game winning streak, and the Oilers, desperately seeking some semblance of stability, have now dropped four in a row. Total time with a lead in those four games? Just 5:13. So you can blame Jack Campbell — do yourself a favour and avoid the lowlights from last night's appearance for the Bakersfield Condors — but the fact is the Oilers are never ready to start games. They have three first-period goals in this losing skid. You can't win like that.

But at least it seems like the coach has a lot of answers.

Let's go:

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This article is about:
NHL Edmonton Oilers San Jose Sharks NHL Nikita Kucherov Connor McDavid Jay Woodcroft
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