Alexandar Georgiev (40) skating through the shark head ahead of their matchup on Tuesday, December 17th 2024 against the Winnipeg Jets. (Via SanJoseSharks/X)

By Madison Montez

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks faced off against the Winnipeg Jets for the second meeting this season. The first time was on October 18th in Winnipeg when the Sharks fell 8-3. Newly acquired forward Nikolai Kovalenko and goalie Alexandar Georgiov will be making their home debuts.

Winnipeg got on the board first at 1:52 with Kyle Connor scoring his 18th goal of the season assisted by Mark Scheifele and Gabriel Vilardi. Tyler Toffoli tied the game at 1-1 at 12:18 of the second period with Nikolai Kovalenko and Macklin Celebrini registering the assists. That was Kovalenko’s fifth point in just his fourth game with San Jose.

At 7:09, Shakir  Mukhamadullin took a hooking penalty against Adam Lowry. 20 seconds later, Mark Scheifele scored his 17th goal of the season to give the Jets a 2-1 lead. Coming into today, the Jets were first in the league on the powerplay with a 30.3%. “Their PowerPlay is the best PowerPlay in the league, um they’ve been together for a few years now and they make really good plays and they played a good game tonight”. Said Tyler Toffoli.

At 16:06, Macklin Celebrini drew a tripping call to put them on the powerplay. A minute and five seconds later, Celebrini scored his 11th goal of the season to tie the game again at second period. Jake Walman and Tyler Toffoli registering the assists.

At 4:44 of the third period, Fabian Zetterlund gave the Sharks their first lead of the game scoring his 11th goal of the season, assisted by Jake Walman. At 11:56, Kyle Connor scored his second of the night to tie the game at 3-3. With 2:30 left in the game, Adam Lowry scored his ninth goal of the season to secure the win for the Jets.

THREE STARS OF THE GAME:

• 1. Kyle Connor
• 2. Macklin Celebrini
• 3. Mark Scheifele

“I think everyone’s frustrated by the result, I think we’ve made some strides from last game, I thought we played harder tonight.” said Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky. The Sharks will be back in action on Thursday hosting the Colorado Avalanche SAP Center in San Jose. Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood and defenseman Givani Smith will be making their first return back to San Jose since getting traded on December 9th.