Winnipeg – Coming off two straight wins and two straight sixty-minute effort games the Winnipeg Jets were in for a tough week as they welcomed the Pacific Division Leading San Jose Sharks to town tonight , things won’t get any easier as the Penguins and Flames are also on the schedule for this week for the Jets.
Winnipeg is still hanging around in the playoff race for the final wild card spot sitting three points back of the St Louis Blues who also have three games in hand on the Jets so every point possible is a must for the Jets.
Aaron Dell picked up win over Jets on Monday – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
The Sharks were playing the second game of a back-to-back as they lost Sunday night in Minnesota and were looking for a better performance tonight.
Joe Pavelski got the visitors on the board in the first as he scored his 22nd of the season beating Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck.
A couple minutes later rookie defenceman Josh Morrissey scored his 4th of the season to tie things at 1-1.
Sharks back up goalie Aaron Dell got the startin goal and was sharp early on stopping 13 shots in the first period.
The Sharks took over the game a bit in the second as they put a lot of pressureon the Jets and fired 16 shots at Hellebuyck .
“We played hard,” Morrissey said. “We did a lot of the right things. I mean, this time of year, it comes down to little bounces and those little details in games. Obviously, we would have liked to close it out the right way in the third.”
In the third, it was the Dell show as the Sharks netminder stood on his head making numerous key stops.
“That was a big win for us,” Dell said. “This time of year, every point is key, so I think we needed to have a good answer from last night (a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild).”
With the Jets on the power play, Mikkel Boedker picked off a Patrik Laine pass and broke in alone and scored his ninth of the season.
With the net empty, the Jets got the puck to Laine and he was robbed by Dell , then moments later the puck came to Dustin Byfuglien who was stopped by Dell as well.
Pavelski scored his second of the night and 23rd of the season into an empty net to make it 3-1 and big Joe Thornton picked up career assist 1000.
“Honestly, I’ve been lucky enough to stay healthy all these years and play with a lot of good scorers,” Thornton said. “For a passer, that’s probably the key. It’s just having the Jonathan Cheechoos, the Glen Murrays, the Joe Pavelskis, you know, the Patty Marleaus. The list goes on and on and on. The guys that I’ve played with over the years have put the puck in the back of the net, so I’ve been lucky to be set up with those guys.”
WATCH: All Sharks vs. Jets highlights
Mark Scheifele beat Dell with seven seconds left but that was as close as the Jets would come as they would lose 3-2.
Winnipeg will try and regroup as they welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins to town on Wednesday .
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