Jets bite back in 4-1 win over Sharks

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This article was published 11/11/2021 (1518 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It took three tries, but the Winnipeg Jets are no longer Shark-bitten.

Following a pair of road losses to the San Jose Sharks in October, the Jets returned home to serve up some revenge, earning a 4-1 victory over the Sharks in front of 14,229 at Canada Life Centre Thursday night.

After a slow start, falling behind 1-0 before the midway mark of the first period, the Jets answered back with four straight goals to seal the victory. They were once again backed by solid goaltending from Connor Hellebuyck, who made 26 saves to earn his first victory since becoming a new father.

The Jets couldn’t capitalize on any of their three power-play opportunities. As for the penalty kill, they got the night off as Winnipeg didn’t register a single penalty on the night.

“I thought we were good in the second half on,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said after the game. “We got a little more physical on the forecheck, we won more pucks on the wall, we got more zone time — the second half of the game we were good.”

The win improved the Jets record to 7-3-3 on the year and to 3-1-1 on their current seven-game homestand. It also stopped the bleeding from a pair of back-to-back losses, including a 3-2 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues Tuesday.

The Sharks dropped to 7-5-1 with the loss, and will look to return to the win column as they continue on with a five-game road trip that began with a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames Tuesday.

The Sharks opened the scoring 6:28 into the opening frame, capitalizing on a Jets turnover to make it a 1-0 game. San Jose defenceman Brent Burns picked off an attempted pass by Brenden Dillon near the right boards before delivering a pass to Andrew Cogliano for a tap-in goal.

It was the first of a flurry of shots in the opening 10 minutes by the Sharks on Hellebuyck. The Jets goalie stood tall through the temporary onslaught, enough to turn the momentum in favour of Winnipeg.

“I just think we got a little quicker. First period, I thought we had some good shifts and then they score the goal, and they had a couple of shifts where they got some zone pressure there and they were just beating us to pucks,” Jets forward Adam Lowry said. “I think that kind of changed later on in that period, we score a goal and that kind of rights the ship a little bit.”

He added: “I just thought we just kept building, we didn’t really give them a whole lot in the second period, or a lot of zone time. Just like our game against St. Louis, we got better, we started winning our one-on-one battles, we started supporting the puck and creating a little bit of momentum, kind of shift after shift and I think that was the difference.”

The Jets responded five minutes after the Sharks goal, with Kyle Connor burying a rebound off an Evgeny Svechnikov shot that was tipped by Pierre-Luc Dubois. The 1-1 goal was Connor’s team-leading 10th of the season.

The Sharks are still reeling from a COVID-19 outbreak in late October, which began hours before their game against the Jets. Seven players remained in protocol as of Thursday, skating as a group back in San Jose.

The group included defencemen Erik Karlsson, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Jake Middleton and Radim Simek, as well as forwards Timo Meier, Kevin Labanc and Matt Nieto. Sharks head coach Bob Boughner is also away from the team, with the expectation that he’ll join his players in Denver prior to their game against the Colorado Avalanche Saturday night.

None of that seemed to matter the last time they played the Jets, but by the second period Thursday, it was clear the Sharks were simply outmatched. Winnipeg scored twice in the middle frame, with goals from Nate Schmidt and Jansen Harkins in the final six minutes of the period.

“We don’t know these guys well enough; we haven’t seen them. I didn’t like the games that we’ve played against them,” Maurice said. “Historically, it’s just one of those teams that we don’t play particularly well. After the first period we got a little bit better and then in the second half of that second period, from then on we were pretty good.”

Schmidt blasted a shot from the point for his first goal as a Winnipeg Jet. The play was set up by Blake Wheeler, who was first to the puck off a Mark Scheifele faceoff win, sending it to Josh Morrissey. Morrissey then set up Schmidt for the one-timer, the puck travelling through a sea of bodies and behind James Reimer.

Schmidt’s timing couldn’t have been better as he notched his first goal with the Jets with his parents in the stands for their first game in Winnipeg.

The Jets made it 3-1 when Harkins found himself on the receiving end of a pass from Adam Lowry, who slid the puck through the crease and onto the stick of Harkins with 44 seconds remaining in the second period.

“Yeah, it’s a big goal. Harks going to the net and it starts in our own end. We’re not really cheating, just trying to bust something open and then you come back with five guys in the zone,” Lowry said. “It’s a lot easier going into the third period with a two-goal lead. You’re feeling better, you’re getting rewarded for some of the chances. Going into the third up 3-1, it bodes well for your chances.”

The Jets seemed to settle down in the third period, outshooting the Sharks 11-9, while prioritizing strong defensive play. The game was put to rest by Dubois, who deposited the puck into an empty net for his eighth of the season.

Winnipeg will return to practice today, in preparation for Saturday night’s game against the L.A. Kings.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton