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 Playing their second game in 24 hours, the Sharks put a sleeper hold
on the home team for most of the night and emerged with a 4-1
victory.
The Jets took 35 minutes in penalties against a team that flew into
town early Tuesday morning and was supposed to be tired after
beating the Flames in Calgary 5-4 on Monday night.
While the Sharks' power-play didn't remind anybody of the mid-1980s
Edmonton Oilers, it generated some good chances, and center Joe
Pavelski salted the game away on a two-man advantage. He scored on a
one-timer to give the Sharks a 3-1 lead with 4:01 left in the game.
San Jose right winger Joel Ward added an empty-net goal with 54
seconds left to send whatever fans remained in the MTS Centre
scurrying for the exits.
The Sharks (21-18-2) took just three minor penalties.
No infraction epitomized the game and perhaps the entire Jets'
season more than defenseman Tyler Myers' cross-check on Sharks
center Tommy Wingels at 12:55 of the third period and his team
trailing 2-1. The hulking rearguard was assessed a five-minute major
and a game misconduct for his nasty two-hander to Wingels' head deep
in the Jets zone.
Myers said he lost his temper during a contest in which the Sharks
suffocated virtually every offensive foray by the Jets (19-21-3).
"It's a penalty. I'm not going to deny that," Myers said. "I might
argue about the five (minutes), but either way it's a penalty I
shouldn't have taken. It wasn't a good time. We're trying to tie the
game up. I've just got to control myself there."
Wingels was perplexed why Myers would lose his cool when he was just
forechecking and finishing his check, something that happens
countless times every game.
"I don't know why he took such exception to it. He cross-checked me
and it was the right call," Wingels said.
The only real drama of the night came while Myers was taking off his
gear in the dressing room in the third period. Jets right winger
Blake Wheeler sped into the Sharks' zone after a dump in on the
penalty kill, knocked the puck away from San Jose goalie Alex
Stalock and tucked it into the net on the wraparound.
The only problem was the referee deemed he had tripped the wandering
netminder, the goal was called off, and Wheeler found himself in the
penalty box, putting his team down for the decisive five-on-three.
Wheeler begged to differ on the call.
"I got penalized for the goalie making a horse-(bleep) play,"
Wheeler said. "He puts himself in a bad spot. I can be man enough
and admit if I slew-footed him. Take a look at my left foot. It's
turning right the whole way and never moves in his direction at any
point. It's hard to have that one go against you."
The view in the visitors' dressing room was decidedly different.
Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said he had no doubt that Wheeler's goal
wouldn't count.
"You can boo all you want, but when you watch it, it's the right
call," DeBoer said.
Stalock, who played a couple of AHL games last week to prepare for
this start, said it was hard for him to say what happened because he
had his back to the streaking winger.
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"Obviously, I don't think I go down if I don't get taken out in some
way," he said. "I was going to get the puck behind the net, and
whether he pushed our own guy into me or (took out) my feet, I don't
know. It's a tough call for a ref to make. I'll take another look at
it. I know they replayed it a bunch (on the scoreboard), but it's
hard to watch during the game."
Jets coach Paul Maurice wasn't about to get pulled into any
officiating controversy in a brief and terse press conference.
"I've got enough concerns, and refereeing can't be one of mine. so
no comment on all the calls or any of the calls," he said. "It was a
call, and we didn't kill the five-on-three.
"We weren't as good as we needed to be to beat that team. They were
faster than we were, from the start all the way right through the
game. We had some chances to tie the game. We're in a 2-1 game, so
it's not out of reach at any point, but they were faster."
The Sharks opened the scoring short-handed at 15:18 of the first
period when center Chris Tierney accepted a giveaway from Jets
defenseman Dustin Byfuglien at center ice and skated in and beat
goaltender Connor Hellebuyck with a wrist shot.
Before the power play was over, however, Jets right winger Drew
Stafford broke in on a two-on-one with Nikolaj Ehlers and fed the
rookie left winger, who beat Stalock with a backhand for his seventh
of the season at 15:41.
Just as the period was winding down, Sharks center Joe Thornton
banged home a rebound in Hellebuyck's crease to make it 2-1.
NOTES: Jets G Ondrej Pavelec, who has been out with a lower-body
injury since November, was on skates -- but no pads -- at the MTS
Centre over the weekend. No timetable has been set for his return.
... Jets C Mark Scheifele is expected to miss another two or three
games after aggravating a lower-body injury last week. ... San Jose
is on the second night of a back-to-back, having defeated the Flames
5-4 in Calgary on Monday. The Jets are 5-1-0 this season against a
team playing on its second of consecutive nights. ... This is the
second meeting between the Jets and Sharks this season. The Jets won
4-1 earlier this month in San Jose. ... In the press box for the
Sharks are C Dainius Zubrus, RW Ben Smith and D Matt Tennyson. ...
The lone healthy scratch for the Jets is D Adam Pardy. ... NHL
commissioner Gary Bettman was in the press box, watching the game
with Jets owner Mark Chipman.
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