Editor’s note: Sheng Peng is a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on Twitter at @Sheng_Peng.

The San Jose Sharks lost a hard-fought 3-1 battle to the Edmonton Oilers.

It was good test of a playoff hopeful in San Jose and a playoff-hardened Edmonton. The Sharks actually probably outplayed the Oilers most of the night, that’s impressive, but there’s something to be learned about keeping it up for 60 minutes.

Here are some takeaways.

Mack Is Back

Macklin Celebrini didn’t miss a beat in his return to the line-up, after missing two games with a lower-body injury.

He looked fast and strong as ever, particularly on his goal, when he bullied Alex Formenton for the puck on the forecheck. He could’ve had more, hitting a post too.

Bad Timing?

You have to love Kiefer Sherwood’s balls to the wall game.

But his early third period penalty, a late side swipe of Leon Draisaitl, seemed unnecessary. The Sharks were controlling the game, up 12-8 shots at that point, and you were opening the door to letting a stifled Oilers offense feel the puck.

San Jose managed to kill the penalty, but Edmonton rolled up three shots on that PP, and scored two goals in 2:27 shortly thereafter, to make it 3-0, and basically put the game out of reach.

There’s something to be said about letting sleeping dogs lie.

Matching Up With McDavid

Alex Wennberg is Warsofsky’s go-to defensive center, so it wasn’t a surprise to see him up against Connor McDavid as much as he was on Saturday.

But it’s impressive to see 19-year-old rookie Ivar Stenberg remain on the line, along with Kiefer Sherwood.

Stenberg-Wennberg-Sherwood did solid work against Vasily Podkolzin-McDavid-Leon Draisaitl. According to Natural Stat Trick, Wennberg’s line outshot McDavid 5-1 at 5-on-5 through two periods, when both were on the ice together.

McDavid did get an assist on the game-winning Vasily Podkolzin goal, but it was against another line.

Stenberg showed lots of poise tonight in every zone, really impressive, despite not coming up with any points.

Chernyshov Demoted, Then Promoted

It wasn’t a surprise that Igor Chernyshov was demoted to the fourth line this afternoon. This, despite starting on the top line on Thursday at the St. Louis Blues.

Head coach Ryan Warsofsky was already showing displeasure in the young Russian winger’s game in St. Louis, yanking him off the power play in the third period. Then, pointedly, when asked about Chernyshov’s game afterwards, Warsofsky didn’t speak on it, choosing to talk about other topics.

The eye test saw a winger trying to do too much and who was careless with the puck. Stathletes’ micro-stats back it up: Chernyshov completed a team-worst 33 percent of his 5-on-5 passes and 52.94 percent of all passes. Just for context, teammate Tyler Toffoli completed 100 percent of his 5-on-5 passes and 95.24 percent of all passes.

Chances are, Warsofsky wants Chernyshov to simplify his game and be more aggressive attacking the net. And he did just that against the Oilers, putting his head down on multiple occasions and bull-rushing the net with the puck.

Chernyshov was rewarded in the third period with a promotion onto Celebrini’s line.

Chernyshov might be, this side of Will Smith, the Sharks’ most talented winger. But there’s nothing wrong with reminding a youngster every once in a while — Chernyshov is just 20! — about how to play winning hockey.

Sharks x PWHL San Jose

It was Sharks x PWHL San Jose Day at SAP Center.

A point made by my colleague Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News, the Sharks’ embrace of PWHL has appeared to be much stronger than any other NHL team that share cities with a PWHL sister squad.

Love that from the Sharks! PWHL San Jose drops the puck on their season on December 5th at SAP Center.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

The lowering of the Shark Head is one of the great traditions in hockey. A great Sharks playoff tradition is the lowering of the Shark Head to the tune of Hans Zimmer’s “Do You Think I’m Saxon?”. The Sharks, however, have been using this intimidating, sounds like it was composed in a forge lead-up for all their home games this season. Call me boring, but I love this classic intro to be saved for special occasions, the home opener and the playoffs. Yeah, I get we haven’t heard this intro a lot over the last seven playoff-less years. But it’s not going to hit the same in the playoffs after I hear it in Game 66 versus the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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