Smith closed the gap to 2-1 at 17:13, scoring short side on Pickard with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle to extend his goal streak to four games (five goals).

Thrun tied it 2-2 5:44 into the second period, sending a sharp angle shot from the left boards in off Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse’s left skate.

“I thought we gave a good effort especially in the second and third, our goalie played well, he kept us in it,” Thrun said. “That’s a good team, you kind of let up for one period and that’s going to be the result.”

Perry put Edmonton ahead 3-2 at 7:32 of the third period, digging at a loose puck near Romanov’s pad after the Sharks goalie stopped a wrist shot by McDavid.

Connor Brown scored into an empty net at 19:34 for the 4-2 final.

“We’ve been out of the playoffs for a while, but you can see right now, everyone is fighting for one another,” Wennberg said. “This game, obviously, they have a lot to play for, but we’re digging in, we want to be a part of it and we want to give them a hell of a challenge and I felt today we did that.

“Obviously, we want to come away with the win, we’re a little bit disappointed. But it’s still a good team effort, for sure.”

NOTES: Smith extended his goal streak to four games and matched Rob Gaudreau (1992-93) and Devin Setoguchi (2007-08) for the third longest by a Sharks rookie. The only players with a longer run for San Jose are Jeff Friesen (five games in 1994-95) and Melker Karlsson (five games in 2014-15). Smith pushed his point streak to four games (five goals, three assists) … McDavid became the fourth player in NHL history to record five consecutive 70-assist seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky (13), Bobby Orr (6) and Adam Oates (5). He also joins Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as the only players to record seven 70-assist seasons. … McDavid factored in on a game-opening goal for the 165th time in his career, passing Gretzky (164) for the most instances in Oilers history. … Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm left for the dressing room 6:41 into the first period, after playing 1:25 of ice time across two shifts. He sat out the previous seven games with an undisclosed injury. Forward Zach Hyman followed shortly after. … The Sharks were also short defensemen after Jack Thompson did not come out following the first intermission and Timothy Liljegren headed down the tunnel with 3:38 left in the second period.