The Winnipeg Jets lost to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night to complete a three-game road trip through California. The team managed to win two out of three games, but they lacked a certain killer instinct while facing a team that had been recently decimated due to COVID-19.
Seven members of the San Jose team and their head coach tested positive for the virus hours before puck drop, forcing five emergency recalls from their American Hockey League affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. Two of the five recalls were making their NHL debuts.
This game should have been a cakewalk for the Jets, who were in the midst of a four-game winning streak and were reintroducing captain Blake Wheeler to the roster after his own stint in COVID-19 protocol.
“They inserted some guys that were chomping at the bit to get in the lineup, and it looked like it was the last game of a road trip for us,” Jets forward Blake Wheeler said. “No excuse, though. We’ve got to be better than that through two periods. We expect more out of ourselves. I thought it was a positive sign in the third period. We pushed hard and finally got rewarded there. Sometimes getting a point out of a down game like that is a real positive.”
Head coach Paul Maurice’s line blender was in full force as he tried to ignite a spark in his team. The reunited trio of Kyle Connor, Pierre Luc Dubois, and Nikolaj Ehlers finally solved James Reimer at the tail end of the third period to send the game to overtime. It was Connor’s seventh goal of the season and extended his point streak to six games.
“Those guys that are goal scorers, when they start coming into their prime, they have a high expectation to score goals,” said Maurice. “And they have a real nose for that net and when to get there.”
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck turned away 34 of 36 shots and was the only reason the Jets were able to steal a point. He has been a workforce for the team as they continue to try to find chemistry with their new pieces on defence.
Newly acquired defencemen Nate Schmidt and Brendan Dillon both look like solid additions throughout the first eight games of the campaign, but the entire unit needs to start clicking as the Jets embark on a seven-game homestand.
“From what I’ve seen, a lot of it is the start of the game,” Jets defenceman Neal Pionk told reporters in California. “We’ve got to start off on the right foot. It's a great thing, being able to salvage a point after playing a game like that. But again, it’s not sustainable over 82 games. We know that and we’ll clean it up.”
The Jets will try to get back in the win column on Tuesday against the Dallas Stars.
