The Winnipeg Jets have improved their record to 24-9-4 with a 2-1 victory over San Jose on Thursday.
The Winnipeg Jets began their mentors trip with a late-night test out west in San Jose. With three games in four nights, the Jets started on the right note, picking up a narrow 2-1 victory over the Sharks on Thursday night.
Gabriel Vilardi scored the winner for Winnipeg, while Morgan Barron also found the twine, as Connor Hellebuyck picked up win No. 19 on the season, cementing his recent 2024 NHL All-Star Game selection.
The Jets applied heavy pressure off the bat, jumping out to 10 shots as opposed to San Jose's two through the first 15 minutes.
But that all changed come the middle stanza.
The Sharks rallied for six shots by the end of the first period, before knotting things up at twelves by the midway point of the second.
San Jose opened the scoring midway through the frame just moments after Josh Morrissey stepped out of the box following a hooking minor. It was Alexander Barabanov who beat Hellebuyck five-hole on a one-time pass from William Eklund, giving the visitors the first goal of the game.
But as opposed to falling to the last-place team for the second time in less than a month, Winnipeg battled back and tied the game just after the halfway mark.
It was Barron who got the Jets' first marker, putting home a Neal Pionk offering from the point. He set a career-high with his eighth goal of the season, besting his 2022-23 total set in 70 games played.
The Jets held a slight 17-16 shot lead heading into the third.
A strong effort shift from Adam Lowry led to a hooking penalty on Filip Zadina, to which the Jets' top power play unit finally capitalized.
Mark Scheifele got the puck to Nikolaj Ehlers, whose perfect shot-pass landed on the stick of Vilardi, who snapped a brief goal drought on a redirection with his eighth of the season.
The Jets held on to fend off the late-game push from San Jose, pushing their franchise record point streak to 10 games (8-0-2). They now sit second in the league - and tops in the Western Conference - with a .703 points percentage, and have not allowed more than three goals against for 27-straight games.
Hellebuyck finished the night with 27 stops on the 28 shots he faced, while Mackenzie Blackwood made 28 saves on Winnipeg's 30 shots.
Next up for the Jets is stop No. 2 of the three-game road trip, as the Jets travel to Orange County for a date with the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night. Much like that of Thursday's tilt, the game features a 9:30 PM central puck drop which can be viewed live on TSN.