Javier Velez
El Observador
It was definitely not “all gravy” at the SAP Center as the Winnipeg Jets scored five unanswered goals after the San Jose Sharks scored their first and only goal on Wednesday night.
“We have a lot of hockey left to play in the next two or three weeks, so I hope it is not fatigue. If it is, we gotta rebound.” Head Coach Peter DeBoer said. “You get what you earn in this league and we didn’t do enough to win a game tonight.”
Sharks have played four games in the last six days, in which two of those games were on the road.
“[Connor] Hellebuyck always plays well in [SAP Center],” said DeBoer. “He didn’t give us that opportunity to get engaged in the game that way.”
Jets were able to get behind their 6’4” goalie’s 32-save dominant performance.
“[Hellebuyck] is a big guy, takes up a lot of the net,” said Couture “he sees it, he’s probably gonna stop it.”
Coming into tonight’s game, Sharks were the hottest team in the league in which they have won nine of their last ten games.
Sharks Forward Melker Karlsson drew first blood scoring his second goal of the season to give them the lead.
The Jets were able to level the score on the power play at one four minutes after the first goal of the game was conceded.
“We worked on [the power play] yesterday. We liked what we were doing on the power play, just the puck wasn’t going in the net,” Jets Head Coach Paul Maurice said, “worked out like it was good again, [power play] looked sharp.”
Jets Forward David Gustafsson was able to give them the lead right before the conclusion of the first period.
Gustafsson shot a screamer of a wrist shot past the glove of Sharks goalie, Aaron Dell, for his first career NHL goal.
The shots on goal were close but landed in favor of the Sharks,9-8, after the first period.
Already allowing two goals in the first period, the Sharks did not help their cause by allowing the same amount of goals in the second period.
Sharks came in with the best power-play percentage in both the league and at home.
“Power play wasn’t good, sucked the life out of us,” said Sharks captain Logan Couture “We didn’t have any emotion in the game.”
Sharks did not score on their six attempts on the power play, which has been an important factor of their recent success.
The Sharks will welcome the Los Angeles Kings to SAP Center on Friday afternoon.
