“The team who won the Cup last year, they are playing like that. Sometimes it's boring, but it works.” — Vasily Podkolzin.

SAN JOSE — For the first time Saturday, we saw what head coach Mike Babcock and these Oilers are trying to accomplish in Edmonton.

Two high-flying, run ‘n’ gun teams met at The Shark Tank in San Jose, and split up just 40 shots and four goals in a meat-grinder of a 3-1 win for the nearly flawless Edmonton Oilers.

Podkolzin rifled home the winner on a drop pass from Connor McDavid early in the third period of a 1-0 game, his fifth snipe in five games this season. But this one wasn’t about the chances created as much as it was about the chances denied.

Tristan Jarry proved that behind a proper defensive environment he could provide proper NHL goaltending, beaten only on a bar-down laser beam by Macklin Celebrini, who was stifled by Edmonton’s defensive effort.

An Oilers team that has shown its defensive prowess for no more than 40 minutes in any given game thus far in the 2026-27 campaign, put in its first 60-minute effort. It was too much for the young Sharks.

“The whole system is a little different,” explained Podkolzin. “The main point is a little different, and the way we play — in the D zone or neutral zone — is way different than we played before. Like I can say, that's boring........

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