The San Jose Sharks were eliminated from the Western Conference First Round following a 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 at SAP Center Saturday.

The Sharks’ defense looked good in the first period. Martin Jones made a glove save despite the traffic in front of the net with 9:12 left in the period. Jones also blocked a couple of pucks from entering the net.

Both teams skated to a scoreless tie after 20 minutes. Shots were 9-6 in favor of the Oilers.

The Oilers opened the scoring just 54 seconds into the second period as Leon Draisaitl collected a pass from Adam Larsson and fired the puck past Jones for his first goal of the playoffs. Anton Slepyshev added an unassisted goal, his first of the playoffs, to give his team a 2-0 lead 56 seconds later.

Cam Talbot kept the Oilers in the game with his excellent goaltending. He caught the puck with his hands with 7:38 left in the period. He also made a couple of back-to-back saves in the final five minutes of the period.

The Sharks outshot the Oilers 18-15, but trailed 2-0 after 40 minutes.

Patrick Marleau cut the Oilers’ lead in half with 7:48 left in the third period. Marleau tipped in a shot from Logan Couture that went past traffic and into the net for his first goal of the playoffs.

“We played hard,” Couture said. “And I did what I could.”

Connor McDavid received a pass from Andrej Sekera and put it into the net to seal a 3-1 victory for the Oilers with just one second left in regulation. Talbot finished with 27 saves for Edmonton.

“There are just a couple of key moments in this series,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “It’s a series that at the end of the night you lose and you don’t know how you lost sometimes.”

Jones made 18 saves in a losing effort for San Jose.

“First off, the big part is us not being able to score,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said. “I thought they defended well. Talbot played well. They were all close games and you gotta find a way to win…It’s not realistic that you’re going to get three or four (goals) every night.”

The Sharks had no drive, desperation and passion. Their offense was just fine, but their defense stumbled over time.

Notes
Scratched: Timo Meier, Michael Haley, Dylan DeMelo

Injured: None

Joel Ward was tonight’s SAP featured player. He played in his 83rd career playoff game. He recorded four points in the first round against the Oilers.