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Sharks head to Edmonton seeking 2-0 road start

Jan 22, 2013 - 4:00 PM (Sports Network) - The San Jose Sharks will aim for a 2-0 road record to begin the season when they visit the Edmonton Oilers for Tuesday's encounter at Rexall Place.

The Sharks, who earned a 4-1 victory in Calgary to begin the season on Sunday, have never started a campaign with two straight road wins. After Tuesday's test in Edmonton, San Jose will play six straight and eight of its next nine games on home ice.

Patrick Marleau led San Jose to Sunday's win over the Flames, scoring two goals during a three-goal second period at the Saddledome.

"It was great to be back," Marleau said. "Even though it was their home opener, just being at the rink and having the fans cheering, it was something special. It's good that we got a couple early in the second period to take control and then try to build off that."

Martin Havlat and Dan Boyle added scores for the Sharks, while Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton posted two assists each. Antti Niemi stopped 31 shots for the win. The Sharks' home opener is set for Thursday night against Phoenix.

The Oilers also began this lockout-shortened season with a road win on Sunday, as Edmonton outlasted the Vancouver Canucks for a shootout decision. Ales Hemsky netted the deciding goal in the shootout to lift Edmonton to the 3-2 win at Rogers Arena.

Hemsky beat Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo cleanly with a wrister to end the second round, following up Sam Gagner's backhander on Edmonton's first try. Edmonton goaltender Devan Dubnyk stopped both Alex Edler and Alex Burrows to salt away the victory. Dubnyk stopped 27 shots for the win.

Edmonton rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Canucks. Jordan Eberle made it a 2-1 game with four seconds left in the second period and Hemsky scored a power-play goal to tie the contest with 5:55 remaining in regulation.

The Oilers had lost four in a row against Vancouver before notching the win on Sunday. The victory was also the first in the NHL for rookie head coach Ralph Krueger.

"We still have a long way to go before I get any (Gatorade) showers," said Krueger after earning his first NHL win.

Forward Nail Yakupov -- the No. 1 pick in last year's NHL draft -- and defenseman Justin Schultz also made their NHL debuts for the Oilers on Sunday. Neither of the highly-touted rookies managed to reach the scoresheet.

The Sharks have won 11 of the last 15 meetings against Edmonton overall and have taken seven of nine at Rexall Place.