Oilers' Scrivens sets record with 59 saves in shutout

EDMONTON, Alberta -- The San Jose Sharks were looking to get their offense rolling again after a 1-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, but they ran into the wrong goaltender.

Edmonton Oilers goaltender Ben Scrivens turned in a record-breaking performance for the ages Wednesday, stopping 59 shots in a 3-0 victory over the Sharks at Rexall Place.

In addition to setting an Oilers record for saves in a game, he set a new NHL standard for saves in a shutout.

'He was unbelievable, he won us the game, obviously,' said Edmonton defenseman Justin Schultz. 'He was seeing everything, he was in front of everything. I couldn't believe it. I've never seen anything like it.'

Nobody had.

'That was the best goaltending performance I've ever seen,' said Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. 'It was just an outstanding game.'

The previous record for saves in a shutout in the expansion era was set by Mike Smith, who had 54 for the Phoenix Coyotes in a 2-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on April 3, 2012.

All the Sharks could do was tip their hat and curse the loss.

'Hats off to their goaltender, he was tremendous,' said San Jose coach Todd McClellan. 'Probably first, second and third star. If he wasn't, he deserved it. Heck of a performance. In all my years in my league I don't think I've seen that, so give him credit.

'As far as our guys go, we'll look at the usual. Did we get enough traffic, did we get second chances, which I think we did. We attempted 100 shots on goal. That doesn't happen very often.'

Schultz and forwards Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle scored for the Oilers, who had not won three in a row since the middle of November and wouldn't have won this one if Scrivens hadn't turned in a career night.

'It's one of those nights, very fortunate,' said Scrivens. 'I owe the shot-keeper a beer, I think.

'I had an awful, awful warm-up, so it was an inauspicious start, but it was one of those things where you try not to look at the forest while you're in the trees and focus on the process and give yourself a chance to make that save.'

The avalanche started early, with the Sharks up 11-2 on the shot clock before the game was six minutes old, and lasted all night.

The Oilers, despite being outshot 20-7 and serving a pair of minor penalties, took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission on a point shot from Schultz.

The second period was more of the same, with San Jose out-shooting Edmonton 22-9 for a two-period total of 42-16.

And still, it was 1-0 Oilers as Scrivens made brilliant save after brilliant save.

'You run into a hot goalie and it's tough, but it's a good lesson for us,' said San Jose winger Patrick Marleau. 'There are certain things you have to do to overcome that. I'm sure there's going to be videos shown us thing we could have done differently.'

The Oilers finally provided some insurance for their netminder 6:30 into the third period when Hall scored his 19th goal of the season.

Eberle made it 3-0 on a power play with 90 seconds to play.

After that, it was just a matter of making sure Scrivens got the shutout.

'We were all on the bench yelling at guys to get in front of pucks and clear it,' said Schultz. 'Once the time ran out it was pretty exciting.'

For Edmonton, anyway.

'Usually when you put 20 shots on goal in the first period you get one goal,' said Sharks center Tommy Wingels. 'We were saying get 20 more shots, get 20 more shots and you think that's a recipe for success.

Unfortunately tonight it wasn't.'

The Sharks were on a six-game winning streak before losing Monday, but are only 6-6 in their last 12 road games.

NOTES: Oilers RW Matt Hendricks left the game in the second period with a head injury after his first period fight with San Jose LW Mike Brown... Oilers D Andrew Ference sat out his third game in a row due to a head injury after colliding with one of the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday. He expects to be back as early as Saturday's game in Boston ... Edmonton RW Ales Hemsky remains out of the lineup with a bone bruise in his ankle after being hit with a shot from teammate Luke Gazdic. Hemsky also expects to be back as early as the weekend. ... Oilers LW Taylor Hall's first-period assist extended his career-best point streak to six games. ... Injured Sharks LW Raffi Torres, out all season after having knee surgery, said he might be able to get in a game or two in before the Olympic break. ... C Logan Couture, who missed his 11th game due to a hand injury, said he is close to returning to San Jose's lineup. ... The Sharks are back at it Thursday in Calgary for their third game in four nights.

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