The Sharks got their best player back on Saturday afternoon. They didn't get the win.
Macklin Celebrini returned after missing two games with a lower-body injury and scored his first goal of the season, but the Edmonton Oilers beat San Jose 3-1 at SAP Center, NHL.com reported. The Sharks fell to 3-2-0, while Edmonton improved to 4-0-1 with its fourth straight win.
How the goals came
Defenseman Mattias Ekholm put Edmonton ahead midway through the first period with a slap shot through traffic that beat a screened Yaroslav Askarov. The score stayed 1-0 through the second, a period in which the Oilers didn't record a shot on goal until about six minutes remained, according to the Miami Herald's game story. Celebrini nearly tied it with five seconds left in the period, but his shot hit the post.
Edmonton broke it open early in the third. Connor McDavid set up Vasily Podkolzin for a one-timer at 3:13, and Alex Formenton added a backhander on a rush at 5:40. Celebrini answered at 11:19, taking a pass from Michael Misa and beating Edmonton goalie Tristan Jarry with a wrist shot from the left face-off dot.
By the numbers
Shots finished even at 20 apiece, and the Sharks had 34 hits to Edmonton's 24, according to the NHL game summary. Jarry made 19 saves and Askarov made 17. Celebrini logged a team-high 21:59 of ice time with three shots on goal, the Herald reported. McDavid's assist gave him 13 points during a five-game point streak to open the season, and Podkolzin has scored in all five of Edmonton's games.
Edmonton coach Mike Babcock said afterward that his team didn't create much off the rush and had to win "the hard way," Sportsnet reported.
For San Jose, the takeaway is mixed. Celebrini looked like himself after the injury, but the Sharks have now dropped two of their last three.