Boedker's hat trick leads Sharks to 5-3 win over Oilers

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Halfway through the season, Mikkel Boedker managed to double his goal-scoring total in just one game.

Boedker scored three goals for his fourth career hat trick to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 5-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.

"A game like that, when you score on your first shift, you're going to feel good the whole game. They came my way today. Three good goals," Boedker said. "After struggling and not producing you always feel pressure. Now you have to expect to go out and do the things I'm relied on to do."

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said getting the 27-year-old going again will be key to his team's second half success.

"That's what we need from him," DeBoer said. "He was playing well before Christmas and we knew these types of games were coming. He's in for a big second half, and we need him."

Brent Burns and Logan Couture also scored for the Sharks, who have won two straight since losing three in a row. Martin Jones stopped 33 shots.

Drake Caggiula, Matthew Benning and Oscar Klefbom scored for the Oilers, losers of two straight. Cam Talbot finished with 23 saves.

Burns' point shot through traffic gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead with 18 seconds in the opening period. It was Burns' 16h of the season.

Boedker then scored twice 6 1/2 minutes apart in the second to give San Jose a three-goal lead. Boedker, who came in with three goals on the season, doubled that total at 8:55 with a tip-in from in front to make it 4-1. It was his second hat trick against the Oilers.

Benning, with his second career goal, got the Olers within two 22 seconds into the third. Klefbom's slap shot off a faceoff 2:23 later pulled the Olers to 4-3.

Couture put the Sharks back up by two at 5:06, as the rebound of his own shot went off his leg and in while crashing the net.

"We showed some life at the start of the third, but it is hard to battle back from a three-goal deficit, especially against a good veteran team like that," Oilers forward Milan Lucic said. "We have lots to learn from this game. You can't play a period or half a game. You have to be ready to play from the drop of the puck."

The Sharks took a 1-0 lead just 1:39 into the opening period as Boedker got to a rebound and lifted the puck over a sprawling Talbot, making his NHL-leading 38th start of the season.

Caggiula tied it up for Edmonton with four minutes left in the first. He fought off a pair of Sharks defenders at the side of the net before hooking a backhand shot past Jones.

NOTES: It was the second of five meetings between the two teams this season. The Sharks won the first 3-2 in overtime in San Jose. ... Sharks D Marc-Edouard Vlasic returned to the lineup after missing the last four games following being hit in the face with a puck.

UP NEXT

Sharks: At Calgary on Wednesday night.

Oilers: Host New Jersey on Thursday night in Taylor Hall's return to Edmonton for the first time since an offseason trade.