Our NHL Saturday check-in column on the San Jose Sharks arrives late today, as we went to the day game in the South Bay—where it was low 80s outside, enabling us to attend a hockey game in shorts and a t-shirt only. Yes, we love our California weather on this fine February 28. But we digress: previously we wrote about how the Sharks blew a 3-0 lead against the Edmonton Oilers, and today, San Jose repeatedly blew leads yet still endured with grit and resolve to win.

Make no mistake, today’s 5-4 victory over the two-time defending Western Conference champions was big for the Sharks. Not only did it break a five-game losing streak for San Jose, but it also “revenged” that loss on January 29 in Edmonton and demonstrated the young kids in Silicon Valley can hang with the best of the best, even when tested. We know our coverage of the Sharks is volatile, going up and down with the tremendous team mood swings: teenage boys!

San Jose scored three first-period goals against Oilers backup goaltender Connor Ingram to take a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes. All three scores were on shots that Ingram should have saved … but didn’t. Therefore, the argument could be made it was a soft two-goal lead after the first period. But the Sharks did their job defensively for awhile, even though the high-powered Edmonton skaters—who scored eight times on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Kings—played well.

The home team took a 3-2 lead into the third period, and that’s been hard for San Jose this year, holding those latter-game leads. Alas, the Oilers scored less than three minutes into the final frame, and the crowd got awfully silent, despite the boost from the Olympics and the free tacos for everyone earned in the first period. Yet here came the first surprise: San Jose scored another goal less than three minutes later to retake the lead and show Edmonton it wasn’t done just yet.

With 14:30 left in the game, the Sharks could see the finish in sight, but they got bitten again by the same bug that has plagued them all season: less than two minutes later, the Oilers scored yet again to tie the game at four goals apiece. The crowd certainly felt like it was on a yo-yo string, emotionally, with this roller coaster going up and down so rapidly. Not too many people at the Shark Tank had the confidence in the home team to rally a second time after giving up a lead. Doh!

But San Jose did it, scoring the eventual game winner with 10:33 to go—and then holding that lead despite taking a tough penalty late in the game and having to play two men down when Edmonton pulled Ingram from its net. In the end, the Sharks did it, thanks to a stellar effort by goaltender Yaroslav Askarov down the stretch. His numbers are not pretty, but he pulled this one out to give San Jose a much-needed boost heading into tomorrow’s home tilt against Winnipeg. Crazy.

With a 28-25-4 mark now, the team still is within shouting distance of a postseason berth, although that five-game losing streak that produced just one point in the standings has hurt San Jose’s chances. But again, this is a team that started off the season winless in its first six games—and the Sharks overcame that to get back into the playoff hunt. With 25 games left in the season now, anything is possible. Maybe these kids don’t know they’re not supposed to be good yet.

Standing up to the Oilers tonight, though, may prove to themselves otherwise.