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Sharks edge Oilers

Dec 22, 2010 - 7:48 AM San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - Antero Niittymaki was sharp with 26 saves and helped lead San Jose to a 2-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers at the Shark Tank.

Logan Couture and Dan Boyle scored for the Sharks, who have won three straight and four of their last six games overall. San Jose has now captured nine of its last 10 games against the Oilers.

"We talked about putting a string of wins together," Boyle said. "We really want to win this next one."

Dustin Penner scored for Edmonton, which has dropped three of its last four games.

Nikolai Khabibulin allowed two goals on 30 shots in the losing effort.

The Sharks opened the scoring at the 13:15 mark of the second period on Couture's 18th goal. Ryan Clowe held the puck in the lower portion of the right slot and sent a backhand pass into the crease area for a successful tip- in redirection tally by Couture.

Later in the middle stanza, a power-play tally by Boyle gave the Sharks a two-goal edge. After Ryan Whitney was whistled for holding the stick at 14:48, the Sharks went to work in their offensive zone with the extra skater but several scoring attempts were thwarted by Khabibulin.

With time dwindling on the power play, Boyle corralled the puck near the centerpoint, drifted into the high slot and buried a wrist shot that made its way through heavy traffic and into the back of the cage with 3:17 remaining before the second intermission.

Penner's 11th goal cut Edmonton's deficit in half with 1:59 to play in regulation -- with an extra attacker on the ice in favor of Khabibulin -- with a deflection goal from in close, but the Sharks used several late clears and held on for the win.

"It's just one of those special teams games that's been killing us for awhile now," Whitney said.

Game Notes

San Jose was 1-for-4 on the power play, while Edmonton failed to score on either of its power-play chances...It was Boyle's fourth goal...Couture continued his lead atop the rookie list for goal scoring. He also now holds sole possession of the top spot for points among rookies with 25.