Tag: Winnipeg Jets

Sharks Lose 5-1 in Final Home Game of Season

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– In their last home game of the season, the San Jose Sharks fell to the Dallas Stars 5-1. Before the game finished, both the Sharks and Stars were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. The Winnipeg Jets defeated the Minnesota Wild, putting the Jets out of reach for Dallas or San Jose. The Los Angeles Kings obliged the Sharks by losing in overtime to Vancouver. That makes it just possible that the Sharks could have the opportunity to play spoilers to the Kings’ last minute scramble into the 2015 playoffs. Probably that is not much motivation for the Sharks today. It is not clear what would motivate the Sharks at this point.

Joe Thornton scored the Sharks’ only goal on Monday. Jamie Benn scored the game winner for Dallas. Jason Demers was roundly applauded by the Sharks fans when he was featured on the jumbotron. The Sharks gave away a lot of signed jerseys and gifts for fan appreciation night. It is possible that those last two facts are more significant than the first two.

It did not matter, as far as playoffs go, who won Monday. Still, one team was more eager to win than the other.

28 seconds into the game, Jason Demers took a shot from the blue line. Al Stalock stopped it but kicked it out to Colton Sceviour, who was waiting, unmolested, between the blue paint and the faceoff circle. Sceviour scored, assists went to Demers and Vernon Fiddler. A few seconds later, Mike Brown and Antoine Roussel fought. They both went to the box and the score was still 1-0 Stars.

The Sharks took the first penalty of the game, a tripping penalty to Melker Karlsson. The Sharks killed the penalty off and by the midpoint of the period, they were near even on the shot clock.

At 9:51, Mike Brown was called for charging Trevor Daley, a call that did not go over well with the crowd or Brown. The hit was a beat late but Daley did just release the puck. The hostile encounter with Roussel just after the hit on Daley could have been called roughing, but the ref opted to go with the hit on Daley. The Sharks killed that penalty too.

The Sharks finally got a power play when Shawn Horcoff went to the box for holding the stick at 14:21. The power play generated some good chances but did not change the score.

The Sharks went back on the penalty kill with just 2:50 left in the period. Barclay Goodrow was in the box for elbowing Tyler Seguin. While everyone was mulling over that call, the Stars scored. They had some help from a couple of Sharks skaters who crowded their own goalie and did not help him out. Patrick Eaves had a clear shot at the net, though Logan Couture did try to impeded him from behind. Eaves got the goal, with assists going to Jamie Benn and Jason Spezza.

At the end of the first, the score was 2-0 Stars, with the Stars leading on the shot clock 11-9.

The Sharks made it to 6:12 of the second period without taking another penalty or giving up another goal. This time, Joe Pavelski went to the box for hooking. Al Stalock was not happy about the call, since he had just gotten a shoulder to the face from a falling Dallas Star. Perhaps the officials felt the hook caused the fall. In any case, back to the penalty kill went the Sharks.

With 46 seconds left in that penalty, Brent Burns joined Pavelski in the box for slashing. It was a fairly blatant slash, breaking Eaves’ stick.

Logan Couture, Justin Braun, Brenden Dillon and Al Stalock managed to kill 26 seconds of the five on three, but with 20 seconds left, Jamie Benn scored from the faceoff circle. Assists went to Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza.

At 11:29, Shawn Horcoff went to the box for interference. The Sharks power play looked stymied by the Stars’ penalty killers and spent too much time chasing rushes the other way. In the final two seconds of the power play, one of those short handed rushes trapped two Stars in the Sharks’ zone while Chris Tierney went the other way with the puck. He dropped it to Thornton at the Stars’ blue line and charged ahead one on two to add to a screen in front of Jhonas Enroth. Joe Thornton followed him in and shot through the three-man wall to put the Sharks on the board. The assist went to Tierney.

At the end of the second period, the Stars led 3-1 and 20-15 in shots.

Just over four minutes in to the third period, the Sharks showed some life on a delayed penalty, maintaining control of the puck in the Stars’ zone for over 20 seconds before the whistle blew and their power play officially began. They did not score on that power play.

Tommy Wingels went to the box for boarding at 9:15. The highlight of that penalty kill, possibly the second best Sharks play of the game, was a short-handed breakaway by Barclay Goodrow and Chris Tierney. They didn’t score but they looked very dangerous.

Their efforts did not go unnoticed. A shift from the Thornton line followed and they looked rejuvenated. That was not enough to change the course of the game, but it did help slow the Stars down.

The Sharks held the Stars scoreless for 15:08 of the period. With 4:52 left in the game, Patrick Eaves evaded Brenden Dillon along the boards in the Sharks zone. He was clear just long enough to get a pass to Jamie Benn, who was loitering below the faceoff circle. 4-1 Stars.

With the three-goal lead, Ryan Garbutt decided it would be a good idea to elbow Matt Irwin in the neck as the Sharks defenseman skated into the Dallas zone. The Sharks power play did not score.

Ryan Garbutt did score at 18:00, on a breakaway with a backhand.

The Stars took another penalty with 37.3 seconds left in regulation. Shawn Horcoff went to the box for the third time, this time for goaltender interference.

Final score 5-1 Dallas. Shots 25-24 Dallas.

Matt Irwin led the Sharks in shots with six. Mike Brown and Tommy Wingels led the team in hits with four each. Karl Stollery and Brenden Dillon led in blocked shots with four each. Al Stalock made 20 saves on 25 shots.

Jason Spezza and Jamie Benn led the Stars in shots with four each. Antoine Roussel led the Stars in hits with three. Jyrki Jokipakka led in blocked shots with four. Jhonas Enroth made 23 saves for the win.

The Sharks next play in Edmonton on Thursday at 6:30 PT.

Sharks Shut Out Jets in Home Opener

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE-One shut out is not like another. Where the Sharks played a solid game on Wednesday, their shut out of the Winnipeg Jets Saturday was not so shiny. Al Stalock showed that he absolutely deserves to be in contention as the starter, but the rest of the team went off the rails after the first 20-30 minutes of the game. The final score was 3-0, but the Sharks’ power play went 0-8.

Todd McLellan was blunt about how ominous that is:

… Three-nothing, people that didn’t see the game are going to say the Sharks are off to a pretty good start, but that was not a well-played game on our behalf by any means.We probably played a good 26-27 minutes and then after that we weren’t close to being the better team.

I thought our power play absolutely sucked the life out of our team tonight. Probably as weak as it’s been in a long long time and we’ve got some work to do there.

Despite the power play’s failure, the Sharks demonstrated that they can keep pucks out of their own net, and that they can play well defensively in front of either goaltender. Stalock, on the change of momentum in Saturday’s game, summarized what he saw of the Jets’ play:

They changed it up after the first period, obviously. They got pucks in deep, got pucks to the net, banged and crashed, sometimes maybe a little too hard. It was a tough game to battle through some of their big guys in front of the paint. Our defensemen did a good job clearing them out.

The win looks good on paper, the Sharks can bank the points, but the next practice agenda wrote itself tonight: power play, power play, power play.

The first goal of the game was scored with the second line on the ice. It was Vlasic’s goal with assists to Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau.

The second goal of the game came from a hard shot off Tomas Hertl’s stick. The Jets let Hertl get away and skate up the slot. He had time but he did not waste it. His shot appeared to go right through Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. Assists went to Thornton and Pavelski at 5:12.

The Sharks’ first power play was a little untidy. The Jets were getting some short handed chances and seemed likely to get another when they were called offside. That gave the Sharks a moment to regroup but they never really got it together.

They had another chance in the last minute of the period when Toby Enstrom was called for holding. That was unproductive, in the end of the first and the start of the second.

The shot count was comfortably (for the Sharks skaters) lopsided. At the end of the first, the count was 15-3.

Their next power play came at 11:01 of the second. This time, Marleau was tripped along the boards in the offensive zone.

The shot count stood at 20-7 for San Jose. Stalock had seen a couple of shots a few seconds earlier as Jets crowded his net, two or three of them at least. In the mass of bodies, it was surprising that the puck did not find its way in.

The Sharks’ third power play did not come to anything either. Joe Thornton seemed very much off his game. His passes were going awry at an inordinate rate. I am sure he could have hit the side of a barn Saturday night, but an outhouse might have been a challenge.

The Jets got their first power play at 10:33 of the second. Adam Burish went to the box for closing his hand on the puck. The first penalty killers were Braun, Vlasic, Pavelski, and Marleau. Hannan, Wingels, Burns and Couture were the second unit. Nieto replaced Wingels in the last dozen or so seconds of the penalty kill. The Jets managed no shots on that power play.

The Sharks’ next power play came from a goalie interference call on Dustin Byfuglien late in the second. While the Sharks did not score, they did make some progress in terms of holding the zone and getting some shots on net. This is how the bar drops.

With almost thirty seconds left in the period, Patrick Marleau claimed the puck off a Jets miscue, and carried it all the way up the slot to beat Pavelec with a neat little lift. He had plenty of time, alone as he was in the zone, to take a shot without haste, giving the Sharks a 3-0 lead.

Joe Pavelski was called for hooking seconds later, so the Jets ended the second and started the third on a power play. The second period ended with shots at  26-16 for the Sharks.

Al Stalock held up well, whether waiting for the few shots he faced, or fighting through and around traffic in front of him. His forays out of the net were not too hair raising, and he seemed to be seeing the game well enough to not take too many chances in that department.

During the Sharks’ next power play, (a tripping call on Adam Pardy),  Matt Nieto was pushed into the Jets’ net without any semblance of subtlety. Unfortunately for the Sharks, most of their power play had already expired and they only had 20 or so seconds of five on three.

The Jets were making some progress on the shot clock, and had closed the gap to 26-22. The Sharks did not do a very good job of anything in that power play, aside from preventing short handed goals.

They would have yet another chance when Byfuglien went to the box again, this time for tripping at 9:03.

The Sharks did not score and Byfuglien was freed, but he was not out for long. As Stalock covered a relatively harmless shot, Byfuglien skated in and gave him a little snow shower. Stalock clearly saw it coming and he braced himself. Several Sharks took issues with the snow shower, as did the referee. Byfuglien received a two minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and then a ten minute misconduct was tacked on.

One has to wonder what he said to get all of that for such indirect contact with the goaltender.

While the game started out very slowly for Stalock, it certainly picked up for him in the third. By the end of the second Byfuglien penalty, the Sharks still did not have a shot in the third period and the Jets had taken the lead for the game by the 14 minute mark.

The teams played a little four on four while Zach Bogosian and Scott Hannan spent two minutes in the box for roughing.

With two minutes left in the game, the Sharks were still looking for their first shot on goal.They never took it, but defended their own net sufficiently to hang on to the shut out.

The game ended in a frantic scramble in front of Stalock, but he kept the puck out. It was a fitting close to the game.

Jets upset Sharks at home

Published on by Ivan MakarovLeave a comment

By Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE, CA — It was a wild and and a crazy game at SAP Center on Thursday night but the Sharks found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard as they dropped the two points in an upset to the visiting Winnipeg Jets.

Dan Boyle, Brent Burns and Logan Couture scored for the Sharks, and Antti Niemi made 27 saves, but none of that was enough this time around as Winnipeg score one more than the Sharks and walked away with victory.

The game got off to a quick start, with Dan Boyle scoring his 9th goal of the season only 1:57 into the game. Sharks defenseman put the puck in the next on a deflection from Marty Havlat’s shot, as Boyle joined the attack and was standing right next to Winnipeg’s goaltender Al Montoya. Winnipeg tied the game 36 seconds later as Andrew Ladd scored on a counter attack and 2-on-2 opportunity. Brent Burns scored towards the end of that period on a power play putting a backhand shot in the net as he got a great pass from Joe Pavelski to put Sharks head 2-1.

The first period was very characteristic of the rest of the game. Both teams were playing open hockey, the defense wasn’t stellar, the puck was bouncing (Logan Couture complained about the ice conditions after the game), and both teams had plenty of chances in front of their opponents’ net.

Jets scored the next two and got ahead on goals by Blake Wheeler and Dustin Byfuglien, but their lead didn’t last.

Logan Couture scored one of the more painful goals of his career when he tied the game at 3-3 at 11:23 of the second period when Sharks scored another power play goal (their second) as he tipped the puck on a shot from James Sheppard who continues to play some of the best hockey of his career lately. Couture tipped the puck and was bent over crouching on the ice right after puck went in. But hands went up and he still celebrated his 20th goal. He mentioned after the game that the puck hit him in the thumb on its way into the goal.

That tying goal setup a great third period for both teams still having a chance to win the game with a good strong finish.

Dustin Byfuglien went on to score his second goal of the night when Sharks were in penalty trouble late in the third period. After nearly killing off Brad Stuart’s holding penalty, Sharks sent another player into the penalty box when Logan Couture sent the puck over the glass while clearing it. That penalty was costly as Jets capitalized on their man advantage to take 4-3 lead with three minutes left in the game.

Sharks pulled Antti Niemi for another man, but were unable to come back in this one.

“Obviously, we were not good enough,” said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan after the game. “I liked the power play, and did not like the penalty kill. The mistake at the end is something we work on all the time and was very preventable, which is disappointing.”

Sharks are now headed to Denver for one game road trip where they’ll play Avalanche on Saturday before returning back to San Jose to face Oilers on Tuesday.

Sharks Extend Streak to 5, Another Shutout for Stalock

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks won their fifth game in a row, defeating the Winnipeg Jets 1-0. Goaltender Alex Stalock got his second shutout in a row, the first being on January 16 in Florida against the Panthers.

Sharks head coach Todd McLellan was glad to see the Sharks play a much better game than they had Monday:

It was a tight game, I thought both teams played that way. Not many chances at either end. And when there were, both goaltenders played well. We’re lucky enough that [Pavelski] batted one out of the air and [we] got away with the win.

Good to see our team play a tight game. I thought against Calgary we weren’t any where near that, we were sloppy. Great to see Alex [Stalock] get another shut out. We’re excited for him. Some good things tonight.

As well as keeping their own zone in order, the Sharks also outshot the visitors. An imbalance on the shot clock was all but predicted by Jets head coach Paul Maurice, after the morning skate:

A huge, huge challenge in here tonight… in terms of their quickness and speed on the puck and the time that they take away from you when you have the puck it’s a huge challenge for the back end.

We loved the gritty effort in Anaheim, it was fantastic but the facts at the end of the day were our goalie made 40 saves and we blocked 36 shots. We didn’t have the puck enough, and I’m not complaining about our effort. So that tells you they were pretty good. I’m expecting to see that from San Jose.

The Sharks delivered, outshooting the Jets 32-20, with Winnipeg blocking 16 more shots. That was a closer margin than the Jets saw in their last game.

Thursday morning, Todd McLellan had predicted the first period to a tee, when asked what he expected from the game:

Tough game, probably a fast game when you look at their lineup and the way they’ve been playing the last four or five games. We know our opponent is confident, fast, they can play an aggressive game so I think we’ll see that type of night.

Bold plays abounded from both sides, the Sharks made quick, short passes through the neutral zone. The puck was bouncing much like it had the game before but the Sharks looked like they were used to it now. No matter how many times the puck hopped over a stick or went shooting into the air unexpectedly, they looked calm about waiting for it to come back into line. After the game, Joe Pavelski didn’t want to give the ice too much credit for either game:

I think it was a little better. You can’t put it all on the ice… You can make one play where the ice probably doesn’t affect it, and then there’s another play where it might make a difference.

It wasn’t a tough period in terms of physical play, but it tested the focus of both teams, with long stretches between stops. Neither team was able to execute or finish elaborate plays.

Pavelski went to the box at 3:33 of the first for holding the stick. That got some boos from the crowd and the Sharks killed the penalty off without giving the Jets much to work with.

The second penalty also went against the Sharks, this time to Tommy Wingels for tripping at 12:38. More boos from the audience, still no joy for Winnipeg.

The boards were unusually lively, as demonstrated by a Winnipeg shot that went wide, only to bounce back at the net. It missed the outside of the post, bounced off of Stalock, and across the blue paint. Luckily for the Sharks, the bounce was unlikely and fast, and no Jets players were in position to take advantage of it before the Sharks were on it.

The period ended with the teams even in shots at 11 each.

The second period was not so fast. The middle of the period was bogged down with pucks out of play and offside calls. The shot clock ticked along but neither team maintained lengthy attacks.

Finally, after a pile up in front of the Winnipeg crease, Olli Jokinen was called for holding.

It took the Sharks less than ten seconds to put the puck in the net, but the referee waived it off. Joe Thornton was on top of Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec when the puck crossed the line. That he was pushed there by Winnipeg’s Mark Stuart did not make a difference. The game remained scoreless, and the power play did not change that.

Shortly thereafter, Mike Brown helped Winnipeg’s Jacob Trouba into the end boards. He didn’t hit him with a full body check but he gave him a distinct push from behind and Trouba hit the glass awkwardly. Brown went to the box for charging. The Sharks killed off their third penalty of the game. They did not allow the Jets a shot on goal.

The shots for the second period were 11-4 San Jose.

The Jets had a scare to start the third period, when a shot from Brent Burns stung Ondrej Pavelec. After consulting with the trainer, Pavelec stayed in.

The Sharks earned their second power play of the game when Matt Nieto drew a hooking call on Bryan Little. The Sharks couldn’t convert on that one either.

The score finally got to change after Justin Braun cut a path to the slot and threw a backhand on Pavelec. Braun described the shot after the game:

I just kind of put it on my stick there. Maybe I should have shot it right away but it kind of worked out: soft backhand, Pavs made a nice play, whacked it out of the air.

Pavelski did knock it out of the air, but described it as if it happened in slow motion:

It’s one of those that’s just kinda, well it’s hovering there. You’re going to the net just hoping for something like that.

In case anyone was still wondering if Pavelski is in the zone, if he’s seeing pucks hovering while the rest of us see them not at all, yes, he is officially in the zone. That is a good thing for the Sharks, a good thing for Pavelski, and dare I say it? Sure, it’s a good thing for America too.

Alex Stalock made 20 saves in the shutout win, Ondrej Pavelec made 31 saves for the Jets. The Sharks and the Jets both had perfect penalty kills on three chances each.

Braun, Andrew Desjardins, Brent Burns and Matt Irwin each had four shots on goal. Brad Stuart led the Sharks with five hits, followed by Eriah Hayes with three. Olli Jokinen led the Jets in shots, with 5. Jacob Trouba led the Jets in blocked shots, with four. The Sharks won 45 of 69 faceoffs.

The three stars were Alex Stalock, Ondrej Pavelec and Joe Pavelski.

The Sharks next play on Saturday at SAP Center. They will host the Minnesota Wild at 7:30 pm.

Sharks Lose to Jets in Shootout, Losing Streak at 5

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks started a five game road trip with a 5-4 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan summed up the good and the bad of Sunday’s game:

That was much better. Not everybody that watched tonight’s game got to see what we did against Vancouver, which was poor. So we made strides as far as competitiveness, I still don’t think we were at our best. Thought we looked slow, especially to retrieve pucks. They’re a very quick team and they exposed some of our speed issues in certain areas that we have to get better. The goals they scored, we’d sure like to have a couple of them back but full marks to them.

The Sharks will need to polish their shootout skills. Unlike last season, when they had exceptional results in shootouts, now they have scored only three times in five shootouts, and won only once. McLellan acknowledged this in the post game interview:

We practice it probably too much now. We created a whole bunch of different situations in practice, we’ve gone through different guys, they’ve got to score. There isn’t magic, you’ve got to beat the goaltender. Right now there’s too much pressure on Niemi in a shootout to be perfect. I don’t know what we are now, we’ve tried different guys, the only one who’s scored this year is [Couture.] So we’ve got to find a way.

With a shortage of shootout specialists since the Spring purge of 2013, San Jose will need a few more shooters to come forward.

Seven times this season, the Sharks have scored in the first two minutes of the game. They did not do so Sunday in Winnipeg. Instead, the Sharks took a penalty. While Sharks defenseman Scott Hannan sat in the box for high-sticking Devin Setoguchi, the Sharks’ penalty kill went to work against the 29th ranked power play in the NHL. Penalty killed off, the Jets continued to attack. The Sharks didn’t have a shot on goal until six minutes had elapsed in the period. By the 13 minute mark, the Jets had outshot the Sharks 10-2.

Moments later, Jets Captain Andrew Ladd went to the box for tripping Sharks’ defenseman Dan Boyle. It took Boyle 14 seconds to score with a blast from the slot. During a CSN intermission interview, Boyle credited Joe Pavelski with clearing the lane for him, while Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau got in front of Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec.

The audience went quiet. They stayed quiet as Tomas Hertl burst across the Jets blue line moments later. Jason Demers’ pass from the Sharks zone was perfectly timed to hit Hertl just shy of Jets territory. It was a great pass and a good shot, modest enough to offend no one while still scoring.

Jets Head Coach Claude Noel responded by calling a time out. He used it well. The Jets continued to lead the Sharks by a wide margin in shots and zone time. During the last minute of the period, Evander Kane went to the box for goaltender interference and put the Sharks back on the power play. The period ended with the Jets challenging short-handed.

The Sharks had a two goal lead but by every other measure, they were being out-played. By the end of the period, the shot count was 15-9 for Winnipeg.

The Sharks started the second period on the power play. The Sharks had a few good chances but did not score. The Jets went back to work, but the Sharks pushed back quickly, showing more confidence and accuracy with their passes, giving Pavelec more work.

The Jets caught a break when a Matt Irwin shot was blocked and then taken away by Matt Halischuk, who carried the puck in. Halischuk’s pass came late enough to look like he would shoot, and Frolik got by Dan Boyle to put the Jets on the board from the other side of the net.

The audience had barely finished cheering when Tommy Wingels responded with a quick shot over Pavelec’s shoulder. Braun cleared the puck off the boards and it hit Wingels just as he crossed the line. The Jets couldn’t stop him. The goal came 41 seconds after Frolik’s.

It took the Jets a minute and 20 seconds to answer with another goal, this one from Dustin Byfuglien (his first of the year) on the blue line. The Sharks left him briefly uncovered with a clear lane for his shot all the way to the net.

At 12:21, Devin Setoguchi earned a power play for the Jets, an intereference call on Hannan. The Jets’ power play didn’t tie the game for them, but five minutes later, a shot from Grant Clitsome bounced off Justin Braun and past Niemi’s glove to tie the game.

In the final second of the middle period, Dustin Byfuglien shot the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. The Sharks escaped the second without giving up the lead, and would start the third on the power play.

That power play was underwhelming. The second unit’s strategy through the neutral zone failed twice as they shot the puck in from the red line. Jets got to the puck first and sent it back out before all five Sharks were in the zone.

The Sharks had another chance at 3:19 when Halischuk went to the box for tripping Tyler Kennedy. San Jose’s first power play unit of Thornton, Marleau, Pavelski, Boyle, and Couture took 40 seconds to score.

Logan Couture, lurking by the side of the net, took a pass from Joe Thornton and sent the puck through his legs behind him, where Boyle found it and put it in the net. Had Boyle not succeeded, Joe Pavelski was nearby as well. It was a beautiful play.

At 11:05 of the third, a bizarre series of penalties cycled through a 5 on 4 SJ, to a 4 on 4, to a 4 on 3 WPG, back to 4 on 4 and to 5 on 4 SJ. The numbers changed so quickly, it didn’t seem to matter who had more men on the ice, the play went back and forth throughout the sequence.

The teams didn’t slow down once they were back at even strength. The back and forth play went down to the last minutes, when Todd McLellan used his time out. The Jets appeared to benefit more from the break than the Sharks did. They won the next faceoff in the offensive zone and Ladd tied the game two shots later.

Two minutes into overtime, Tommy Wingels was involved in his second discounted goal of the season. Wingels, positioned in front of goaltender Pavelec, lost the shoving match and ended up too close to Pavelec. The goal that followed seconds later was disallowed for goaltender interference. McLellan commented on the call after the game:

If you’re a Shark you’re questioning it, if you’re a Jet you agree with the call. It’s a discretionary call that occurs in a game. He was allowed to make the first save easily, it’s the second one, it’s the rebound and I don’t know who has the right to that ice, I don’t understand it. But we move on.

The Sharks were not penalized further on the play, and the game went to a shootout.

The Jets shot first, with Andrew Ladd shooting third for Winnipeg and scoring the shootout winner. He skated in and lifted the puck from what appeared to be an impossibly close angle. Niemi saved the first two shots from Blake Wheeler and Brian Little. The Sharks’ shooters were Logan Couture (save), Tommy Wingels (miss), and Dan Boyle (save).

Final shot count: 46-34 Winnipeg. The Sharks’ power play went 2-6, their penalty kill was 2-2.

Notes:

The scratches were Brad Stuart and John McCarthy. That put Matt Irwin in as Dan Boyle’s partner, and left Mike Brown on the fourth line.

The Sharks’ next game is Tuesday in Calgary at 6:00 pm PST.