WINNIPEG – The Jets were feeling the heat as they are in must-win mode almost every game as they are in a dog fight for those wild card spots in the West. They were looking to put some distance between themselves and tenth place San Jose as they welcomed the Sharks to town. The Jets sent their fans home happy with a 5-2 victory over the Sharks and now are six points up on them.
Ondrej Pavelec got his second consecutive start in goal; it was the first time since November that he has done that. He was sharp as he stopped 38 out of 40 Sharks shots and was named the game’s first star.
“We got some really good goaltending,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “He was just aggressive trying to find pucks. He was fighting.”
Antti Niemi was in net for San Jose and gave up three goals on eight shots before getting pulled at 13:01 of the first period. Alex Stalock came in and finished the game making 12 saves off 14 shots.
“The start was not what we needed in a building that just seems to build with energy,” San Jose coach Todd McLellan said.
Winnipeg got goals from Adam Lowry his 8th , Mark Scheifele his 12th , Andrew Ladd his 24th , Blake Wheeler got a pair his 21st and 22nd of the year.
“[Scheifele and Stafford] are buzzing right now,” Wheeler said. “When [Scheifele] is skating like he is right now, he’s great to play with. [Stafford] is just so strong on the puck. He makes such smart, simple plays; I think he makes a good complement for the two of us.”
San Jose got a pair of goals off the stick of Joe Pavelski his 33rd and 34th of the season.
“Every game right now, if you don’t win it, it’s a setback, bottom line,” Pavelski said. “Nobody in here can hang their heads right now. We’ve got to get ready for the next game.”
The Jets got off to a fast start as they burst out to a 3-0 lead early in the first, but the Sharks took it to them the rest of the way and Pavelec shut the door and they held on for a big win. The power play was a big reason for the win as the Jets cashed in twice on three attempts .
Winnipeg used more of a physical game on the Sharks.
“We’re moving on,” McLellan said. “We’ve got to go to Toronto. By the time we [get on] the plane, we should be recharging our batteries and getting ready to play in Toronto.
“Now we get on the plane, we eat, we review the game, we have a good skate [Wednesday], we practice and away we go. There is nothing else we can do. We could sit in the corner and cry if we wanted to, but that’s not going to help us one bit.
“If something negative happens, we’ve got to park it and move on. We have no other options.”
The Jets got multi-point games from Ladd who had a two-point night , Wheeler and Sheifele had three-point nights, Drew Stafford also had a two-point game.
Wheeler showed his leadership qualities and how much he wants to win by blocking 2 shots with the inside of his leg with under two minutes to go and the score 5-2 . This is the kind of character that playoff teams want.
The team received some good news as Tyler Myers was back in the lineup after missing one game with an upper body injury. Dustin Byfuglien was a game time decision and did not dress but should be back this week.
“[Byfuglien] was ready to go, and he got through the morning skate,” Maurice said. “But sometimes you have to pull a guy back a little bit, and I just didn’t think it was the right time for him to come in.
“We want to be sure with [Byfuglien] that when he comes back in, he doesn’t go back out again.”
With the win, the Jets moved past LA and Calgary into 7th place in the West.
The Jets will welcome the St. Louis Blues to MTS Centre on Thursday night.
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