Burns reaches milestone as Sharks edge Oilers

Brent Burns collected a goal and an assist to reach the 80-point mark in a season for the first time in his career and pace the visiting San Jose Sharks to a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

Burns is just the sixth player in NHL history and second defenseman to record his first 80-point season at the age of 34 or older.

Goalie Aaron Dell made 26 saves for the Sharks (45-27-9, 99 points), who went into the night with just one win in 10 games.

San Jose will face the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday to close out the regular season before having home-ice advantage in a series with the Vegas Golden Knights to kick off the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Gustav Nyquist's goal with 1:12 remaining in the second period broke a 2-2 deadlock and held up as the winner. Nyquist was parked in front of the net and deflected a Burns point shot for his 21st goal of the season.

Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl scored twice to give him 49 on the season. The Oilers (34-38-9, 77 points), who will miss the playoffs for the 12th time in 13 seasons, finish the season Saturday in Calgary.

Draisaitl opened the scoring with a beautiful short-handed goal 2:03 into the affair, but the Sharks regrouped with a pair of first-period goals 72 seconds apart to take a 2-1 lead.

First, Joe Thornton set up Marcus Sorensen at the 8:52 mark. Thornton's assist was the 1,064th of his career, which moved him ahead of Steve Yzerman for eighth spot on the NHL's all-time list.

Then Burns scored his 15th goal of the season. Off a won faceoff, Burns worked from his point position to the right dot and wired a top-corner wrist shot.

Draisaitl netted his second of the game early in the second period, finishing a pretty three-way passing play that included Connor McDavid and Matt Benning, but the hosts couldn't build on it.

Edmonton goalie Anthony Stolarz made 24 saves in the loss.

--Field Level Media