It wasn’t for lack of trying on Friday night when the San Jose Sharks lost 3-2 to the Winnipeg Jets.
San Jose took 53 shots on the night and Connor Hellebuyck made 51 saves to get the win.
“There was a stretch there where I was praying a little, but the guys were great about letting me see things,” Hellebuyck, said. “This is the result of the pucks going my way.”
Nikolaj Ehlers struck for the game-winner with 84 seconds left in regulation.
“We let them hang around, and it’s those one or two mistakes you make that come back to haunt you,” Sharks forward Evander Kane said. “And that’s what happened tonight.”
The Jets had only 19 shots in comparison.
“You know what? I thought there might be the other positive [besides Hellebuyck], because Jack Roslovic created that goal, and he needed to because he was so bad through two-and-a-half [periods],” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. “But you know what? Good for him. That’s important. You play 82 games, and you’re going to have a night where you just can’t get it done, it’s not going for you. But he didn’t sulk, he didn’t sit on the bench. He went out, he and [Ehlers] win us the game, along with our goaltender, after a real, real tough night.
“I got a lot more faith in him that there’s a young man that’s going to stay in the game. He’s learned a really valuable lesson; stay in the game, stay in the fight, because you truly can be the difference maker.”
Gabriel Bourque and Blake Wheeler had goals for the Jets.
“He’s (Hellebuyck) had a history of having a night he didn’t like and coming back and being just about unbeatable,” Maurice added. “It’s probably the only story of the game. Those are traffic shots, and there’s so much hard work that goes into doing what he did tonight; fighting through to see pucks, moving when you’re on the ice and there’s nothing but legs and sticks flying. He was fantastic.
“We wouldn’t want to see that too often. We’ll take the goaltending every night, but San Jose was really good. Our goalie was really good.”
The Sharks dropped to 4-9-1 on the season.
Barclay Goodrow and Tomas Hertl were the strikers for San Jose.
“We’ve been a little fragile lately,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said. “That could have been a point where we hung our head and didn’t respond, but I really liked our response.”
The Jets improved to 7-7-0.
[WATCH: All Jets vs. Sharks highlights]
Martin Jones made 16 saves in the loss.
“That’s the team I’m familiar with, and that’s the style that’s nice to see. We haven’t seen it in a while. It would have been nice to get rewarded for it. But if we play that type of game, the wins will come,” DeBoer said after the game.
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