Watch: Oilers practice in dark without nets in San Jose

The Edmonton Oilers were forced to practice in the dark without nets ahead of their matchup with the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.

The Sharks prohibit having the lights in the arena turned on before 11:30 a.m. PT. The mandate has been in place all year, but teams who liked to practice early, like Edmonton, were typically given leeway. However, the rule became strictly enforced ahead of Tuesday's Game 3, according to TSN's Darren Dreger, who was skeptical of the timing.

"There's no doubt that there's gamesmanship in play here," he said.

TSN's Ryan Rishaug, who has covered the Oilers all season, reported that there are a group of players who get out on the ice early every morning and work on shooting drills with the assistant coach. This time, however, they had no nets to shoot on.

The change in routine could favor the Sharks, who are down 2-1 in the series and haven't held the lead once.

One of the most memorable practices in hockey history came in the dark. Back in 1980, Herb Brooks, the head coach of Team USA's Olympic team, put his players through a series of suicides following an embarrassing loss, and kept skating them again and again, even though the arena attendant was forced to turn off the lights. Here's the moment depicted in the movie "Miracle on Ice":

Team USA went on to upset the Soviet Union before taking the gold medal against Finland. The Oilers are surely hoping these dark practices parlay into a similar result this postseason.