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 The defenseman scored with 4.5 seconds left in the third period
to boost his club to a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.
With a faceoff in the Jets' end and just eight ticks left on the
clock, the Sharks notched the winner on a play that couldn't have
been scripted any better.
Center Joe Pavelski won the draw back to Logan Couture, who sent a
quick cross-ice pass to a wide-open Vlasic, whose snap shot eluded
Winnipeg goalie Michael Hutchinson.
"I was in the right spot at the right time," said Vlasic, who
recorded his fifth goal of the season. "We played hard against a
very fast team, and we got rewarded on the play. We won the draw,
and Couture made a nice pass. There was a little bit of room. and I
was able to pick a little spot up there."
Winnipeg defenseman Jay Harrison, seeing a rare shift on the power
play, tied the game 2-2 at 4:03 of the third period.
The Jets killed off three consecutive minor penalties and breathed a
sigh of relief with just under three minutes left when a video
replay showed the puck stayed out on a goalmouth scramble.
 However, Vlasic's heroics handed Winnipeg a third loss in four
games.
Defenseman Brent Burns, his 11th of the season, and center Melker
Karlsson, his third, also scored for the visitors.
Jets left winger Andrew Ladd scored his 15th goal.
The game was the only one on the NHL schedule Monday night, but it
was a big one in the Western Conference. The Sharks (21-14-5) and
the Jets (20-13-7) are tied with 47 points. The Sharks moved out of
a wild-card spot and into third place in the Pacific Division, while
the Jets still occupy a wild-card position in the conference.
The Sharks rebounded nicely from a 7-2 thrashing by the St. Louis
Blues on Saturday night.
"We couldn't be happier, obviously, to get the win and fix what was
broken," coach Todd McLellan said. "We didn't play very well against
St. Louis the other night, and this Winnipeg team plays a similar
game, heavy and hard, (with) a lot of pinching.
"So I thought we did a much better job tonight, and the reward at
end of the night was icing on the cake. Now we have to keep that
recipe going."
The Sharks carried much of the play, finishing with a 37-19 edge in
shots. San Jose was 1-for-7 on the power play, while the Jets were
2-for-3 with the man advantage.
San Jose goalie Antti Niemi made 17 saves for the win. Hutchinson,
who is enjoying a tremendous rookie season and has unofficially
supplanted Ondrej Pavelec as Winnipeg's No. 1 goalie, starting four
of the last five games, blocked 34 shots.
Hutchinson said he felt the Sharks' frenzy just above his crease all
night.
"Their team does a good job of getting a lot of traffic and shooting
for sticks," he said. "There's very few shots tonight that came off
their guy's stick clean and made it all the way to me without being
touched."
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The Sharks attacked early as defenseman Brent Burns fired a point
shot past Hutchinson just 1:14 into the opening period with Jets
left winger Mathieu Perreault serving a double-minor penalty for
high sticking.
Left winger Patrick Marleau, positioned on the point for the power
play, slid the puck over to Burns for an assist, his first point in
10 games to halt his longest point drought since 2001.
Marleau said prevailing in regulation time against a conference
rival was critical.
"It's nice to get those points. We're battling those guys for a
playoff spot, so the two points in regulation are good," Marleau
said. "It's a tight race, and we have to keep winning."
Early in the final frame, Sharks center Tomas Hertl was hit in the
face with a puck while sitting on the bench, and he was rushed to
the club's dressing room. The Sharks were killing a penalty when a
clearing attempt struck Hertl, and members of the training staff
immediately applied a towel to his face and guided him off the ice.
Afterward, he was sporting a mouthful of stitches.
Harrison, who scored his first goal as a Jet since being acquired
from the Carolina Hurricanes early in December, said coming away
empty-handed was tough to accept.
"We were hanging around long enough to give ourselves a chance of
winning the game, and those are stingers, ones you lose at the end
like that," he said.
NOTES: The Sharks were without C Joe Thornton for the second
consecutive game. He sustained an upper-body injury on New Year's
Eve against the Anaheim Ducks and was placed on injured reserve,
snapping his "iron man" streak of 319 straight games played. ...
Winnipeg began the new year without four key defensemen. Toby
Enstrom, Zach Bogosian and Mark Stuart have missed significant time
due to lower-body injuries, while Jacob Trouba is sidelined with an
upper-body injury. D Grant Clitsome also missed Monday's game. The
club says none of the banged-up blue-liners will be available until
late this week at the earliest. ... D Julien Brouillette was in the
Jets' lineup for the first time since being recalled from the AHL a
month ago. He was paired with Adam Pardy. ... San Jose continues its
road trip with a Tuesday game against the Minnesota Wild. The Jets
travel to play the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.
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