Couture, Jones thrive in victory over Winnipeg
Logan Couture scored twice and Martin Jones made 38 saves as the Sharks beat one of the hottest teams in the NHL as San Jose beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-0 at SAP Center on Saturday night.
Jones collected his second shutout of the season and the 17th of his career thanks in part to the Sharks’ penalty kill, which went 3-for-3 and provided a shorthanded goal.
“We knew points were going to be tough,” Sharks assistant coach Steve Spott said. “Jones was excellent. And all six defensemen were solid. To hold them off the scoreboard — they’ve got a high-powered offense — to do what we did tonight was excellent.”
Sitting second in the Central Division, Winnipeg lost for only the second time in eight games and for the fourth time in 14.
Tomas Hertl scored his fifth goal of the season into an empty net at 16:50 of the third period as San Jose scored as many as four goals in consecutive games for the first time this season.
“It’s finally going in for us,” said defenseman MarcEdouard Vlasic, who added two assists.
Despite taking three penalties in a 6:57 span of the middle period, the Sharks actually extended their lead. After standing tall at the blue line to continuously deny Winnipeg clear entry, the Sharks really benefited from defenseman Dylan DeMelo’s interference call against Brandon Tanev at 13:02.
Winnipeg defenseman Dustin Byfuglien fumbled an attempted keep-in at the right point, and the result was a Couture breakaway that he capped with a backhand goal past relief goalie Connor Hellebuyck just 11 seconds into the kill.
Couture nearly made it a hat trick when he broke away shorthanded again, but the puck squirted off his stick before he could attempt a shot.
“Fake shot, he kind of froze and I went around him,” Couture said of his shortie. “The second one, I couldn’t believe I had another breakaway and the puck jumped on me.”
Hellebuyck came into the game at the start of the second period because goalie Steve Mason suffered an upper-body injury late in the opening period.
The Sharks started quickly, scoring two goals of the opening period.
San Jose converted its first power play at 11:30 of the first to take a 1-0 lead. Joe Pavelski redirected a Joe Thornton drive off the crossbar, but the Sharks stuck with it. Eventually, defenseman Tim Heed stepped into Kevin Labanc’s behind-theback pass from the high slot and scored 1:18 into the power play.
“One of their guys broke a stick, they had to shrink in a little, so I had a good opportunity to move in a little and get a good shot,” said Heed before complimenting Labanc’s feed. “I was waiting for it. It’s good he saw me there.”
Mason made a couple of good stops in close to deny Timo Meier and Pavelski, but left a juicy rebound on a Justin Braun shot from the right point that Couture punched home at 19:44 for his first goal of the night.
“He’s been excellent,” Spott said of Couture. “He’s doing as much offensively as he does defensively. He’s very much an unsung hero for what he does defensively. He blocks shots and matches up against the best players. When Logan does what he does, it sends the right message to our youngsters.”