Sharks end Jets home winning streak in overtime win
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Joe Pavelski scored his team-leading 29th goal in overtime on Tuesday, ending the Winnipeg Jets seven-game home-winning streak.
Pavelski clinched a 3-2 win for the Sharks with 2:11 remaining in the extra session, burying a pass from Brent Burns on the penalty kill after his team got called for having too many men on the ice. Burns got the play started by forcing a turnover from Patrik Laine in the defensive zone.
The Sharks penalty kill went 5-for-5 on the night, playing a key role in the win after going 8-for-15 in the last four games before the All-Star break.
With the win, the Sharks improved to 1-1 on the season against the Jets, a series that could prove to be a preview of the Western Conference final.
Blake Wheeler opened the scoring at 3:08 of the first, firing a shot through defenseman Justin Braun’s legs and into the top shelf.
The Sharks responded in the middle of the period, capitalizing on their first power play opportunity. Logan Couture netted his 20th by beating Connor Hellebuyck with a shot through traffic as Josh Morrissey laid on the ice after getting injured on a blocked shot. Joe Pavelski and Kevin Labanc earned assists on the play.
Morrissey returned for one shift in the second and then left the Jets bench for the remainder of the game.
Mathieu Perrault put the Jets ahead 21 just 52 seconds into the second, slipping a changeup past Martin Jones after Brenden Dillon turned the puck over on a breakout pass.
Video coach Dan Darrow deserves an assist for the role he played in the win. After the Jets appeared to have taken a 31 lead with a power play goal at 9:25 of the second, the Sharks challenged the play for being offside and got the goal overturned.
Marcus Sorensen eventually tied it up at 2:35 of the third, digging the puck out of a scrum in front of the Jets net and depositing his 11th goal of the season. Labanc picked up his second assist of the night on the play while MarcEdouard Vlasic recorded his first point since Jan. 2.
Jets fans took it easy on Justin Braun, Tomas Hertl and Tim Heed, who were playing their first game in Winnipeg after mocking the city for being cold, dark and technologically primitive in a promotional video that went viral in the city last year. If Jets fans are holding any type of grudge toward the trio of Sharks, they didn’t express it in the form of boos and chants.
But the home crowd did made their feelings about Evander Kane known.
They booed the former-Jet, who got traded out of town in 2015, nearly every time he touched the puck in his first game in Winnipeg as a member of the Sharks. Kane became sports enemy No. 1 in Winnipeg after he violated a team dress code by wearing a tracksuit to a meeting in February 2015, inspiring Dustin Byfuglien to toss his garb into a cold tub. The Jets traded Kane to the Buffalo Sabres one week later.