EDMONTON -- Two games after blowing a two-goal, third period lead on home ice to the Detroit Red Wings, the Edmonton Oilers let another one slip away, squandering a two-goal third period lead at home to the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.

In a playoff race so tight you never know which lost point might be the one that keeps you out of the postseason, the Oilers are handing them out like candy. They gave out two more to the Sharks' 4-3 shootout victory.

"It's just tough, that's a game that not only did we need the two points, but I thought we deserved them, for the most part," winger Ryan Jones said. "We just need to find that little bit of whatever it is to get through the end of the game."

The Oilers, 3-0-1 in their last four, were looking to move into the top eight for the first time since the opening days of the season at the expense of a Sharks team that had one win in its last seven starts.

They seemed in full control after Sam Gagner and Shawn Horcoff scored first and second period goals and a Jones wraparound made it 3-1 with 16 minutes to go in the third.

But when the Sharks pushed back, the Oilers withered. Logan Couture's second of the night made it 3-2 on the power play at 6:50 and three minutes after that, Tommy Wingels tied it on a short-side wrist shot.

The Sharks scored on two of three shots in the shootout as the Oilers watched another one slip through their fingers.

"Those are big points, especially at the point in the season we are right now," said Oilers defenseman Nick Schultz. "We're playing good hockey, we're finding our game, we're competing against the top teams in the league and we believe that we belong here. It's just another aspect of the game we have to get better at, playing with leads.

"It's just bearing down, making hard plays, making the simple plays. You can't panic, you have to rely on your system and what you've done throughout the game."

The win stops the bleeding in San Jose, at least for a day or two. The Sharks began the season with seven straight wins and looked virtually unbeatable, but they've been struggling to find their way ever since with just six wins in the last 22 games.