In the end on Tuesday, it came down to just 1:13, which is exactly how long the Edmonton Oilers had a two-man advantage in the second period against the San Jose Sharks.

Instead of turning the opportunity into momentum, the Oilers turned the puck over four times.

In a game that was there for the taking, the San Jose Sharks did the taking, scoring a 2-1 victory to

improve to 18-11-5 and a commanding 9-1 record against Edmonton.

“On a five-on-three, you set up the payoff, and that’s the shot, and we didn’t do that with any kind of authority at all,” said Oilers head coach Tom Renney whose team dropped to 12-15-5.

“A five-on-three is a five-on-three and we tried to make things a little bit too extraordinary instead of keeping it simple. That led to our

demise if you will,” he continued, “then subsequent to that, we got into a bit of a track meet in the second period and, by not managing

the puck properly, they had a 2-0 lead. We beat ourselves.”

It was the Oilers’ first game

since Dec. 16, which had Renney wondering how his squad would respond after the layoff. He didn’t need to worry. The Oilers held the Sharks to just five shots in the first 20 minutes, but as has happened so many times this season, they failed to stay on track.

They were out shot 17-9 in the

second period, they failed to take advantage of the five-on-three power play, and then got into enough penalty trouble that the Sharks had 5:13 of power-play time to work with.

At 13:15 of the second period,

Logan Couture, rushing towards the Oilers net on a turnover generated by the Ryan O’Marra line, turned a shot from Ryane Clowe into his 18th goal of the season. Just over three minutes later, Dan Boyle whipped in a power-play marker that ricocheted in off the shin pad of Edmonton centre Colin Fraser.

The Oilers have been outscored by a cumulative score of 38-27 in the second period this season.

“We did a lot of good things but not good enough to win,” said Renney.

Late in the third period, with an extra attacker on the ice, Oilers defenceman Ryan Whitney fired a shot that found its way past Sharks goaltender Anterio Nittymaki. The goal was awarded to Dustin Penner, who was parked in front of the net, not Whitney, who hasn’t scored since April 11 of the 2009-10 season.

“Five-on-five, we played really well,” said Whitney. “It’s just our special teams. On that five-on-three, we didn’t even get a chance. We had three or four turnovers, two or three by myself ... you have to score there. We were minus one of special teams — that’s the game right there.”

“We came out strong. It was one of our better starts, maybe not offensively but certainly defensively,” said Taylor Hall. “But they get a couple in the second and that’s the story of the game.”

OIL DROPS: Edmonton moves down to stormy southern California for a Thursday night game against the Los Angeles Kings ... J.F. Jacques returned to the lineup after spending two games in the press box. He played just four shifts in the first 40 minutes.

jireland@edmontonjournal.com

Twitter.com/jirelandEJ