The San Jose Sharks and Winnipeg Jets faced off for the second time this season on Sunday afternoon. The Sharks were on the second half of a back-to-back, as they defeated the Edmonton Oilers the previous night, while the Jets looked to bounce back from an overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks in their last outing.
The opening minutes were filled with end-to-end action, with both teams generating shots on the rush. Immediately after the first whistle, two and a half minutes into the game, Morgan Barron was able to break the deadlock and give the Jets an early lead. Sharks goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic was forced to make a couple of big saves in quick succession shortly after the goal. William Eklund had a partial breakaway chance just under eight minutes into the game, but Connor Hellebuyck was able to get his glove on the puck, sending it just wide of the net.
The Sharks got two power play opportunities near the middle of the opening period. The first came when Gustav Nyquist was called for slashing Tyler Toffoli. The Sharks were unable to take advantage of the extra man, but got another opportunity shortly after when Jonathan Toews was penalized for hooking Macklin Celebrini. Although the Sharks got some quality chances, once again, the Jets’ penalty kill stood strong.
Kiefer Sherwood took the first penalty of the night for the Sharks with less than a minute remaining in the opening frame, as he was called for goaltender interference following contact with Hellebuyck. The Jets weren’t able to capitalize on the man advantage before the period came to an end, and carried their power play and 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
One area where the Sharks certainly excelled in the first period was in the faceoff circle. They won 67% of draws in the first period. Alexander Wennberg led the team in faceoff wins in the opening frame, winning five draws while losing two.
The Sharks quickly killed off the penalty, but were shorthanded again five minutes into the period when Shakir Mukhamadullin visited the penalty box for tripping. Once again, the Sharks were able to kill it off with little issue. The second period overall was fairly uneventful, as it was a lot of back-and-forth with few quality scoring chances.
Will Smith tied things up 1:47 into the third period. After Collin Graf took a shot, the puck bounced right to the stick of Smith, who took inspiration from the upcoming baseball season as he bunted it past Hellebuyck and into the net for his 18th goal of the season.
The Jets got an opportunity to restore their lead halfway through the third when Philipp Kurashev took down Dylan DeMelo in the offensive zone, giving Winnipeg a late chance on the power play. The call was not popular amongst the crowd at the SAP Center, and quickly resulted in chants toward the official. The Sharks penalty kill remained perfect though.
The Sharks got a man advantage of their own moments after Kurashev's penalty expired. Winnipeg's captain Adam Lowry went to the box for interference on Vincent Desharnais. The penalty was again killed off.
The Sharks earned another late power play opportunity when Kyle Connor took down John Klingberg in the corner behind the Sharks' net with just over four minutes remaining in regulation. The Sharks generated quite a few chances, but couldn't beat Hellebuyck.
Neither team was able to break the tie in regulation, and the game moved on to overtime.
A minute and 40 seconds into overtime, Michael Misa was able to beat Hellebuyck and earned the win for the Sharks.
The Sharks' homestand will continue on Tuesday, when they host the Montreal Canadiens.