SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Emotionally, the San Jose Sharks where were they needed to be for most of Tuesday's game with the Winnipeg Jets. Structurally, though, they left a little to be desired.
After a frantic comeback in the second period, and another one in the third, the Sharks could only salvage a point against the Jets. Bryan Little scored 18 seconds into overtime to lift the Jets to a 5-4 win at SAP Center.
The Sharks trailed 4-3 in the third period on a goal by the Jets' Joel Armia. Less than four minutes later, though, Timo Meier tied the game with 4:40 left in the third, getting just enough on a backshot from the slot to beat Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck for his 11th goal of the season.
The Sharks trailed 3-0 by the 11:56 mark of the first period as the Jets scored on three of their first four shots on San Jose goalie Aaron Dell. After goals by Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture, a charged-up Joe Thornton, the Sharks' emotional leader for more than a decade, helped tie the game with a perfectly placed pass.
Chris Tierney scored his 12th goal of the season, one-timing a pass from Thornton that tied the game 3-3.
Thornton was playing with an edge Tuesday. He had words with Jets forward Little just as the Sharks were starting a power play in the second period. Shortly after, the two came together again during a stoppage in play.
But Pavelski scored 46 seconds to go in the first to cut the Sharks' deficit to two, and Couture added an even strength goal in the second to make the score 3-2.
Then on the Sharks' third power play, Thornton took a pass from Brent Burns and sent a pass through a maze of Jets players' sticks to Tierney.
Thornton came into Tuesday with five goals and three assists in the Sharks' last six games, which included a goal and an assist in Sunday's 6-2 San Jose win over the Anaheim Ducks.
The Sharks had to play most of Tuesday's game without Tomas Hertl, who was given a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct in the first period for a questionable hit from behind on Jets defenseman Dmitry Kulikov.
Kulikov was going back into his zone to the left of Jets goalie Hellebuyck to retrieve the puck when Hertl came in and hit Kulikov face-first into the glass. A bloodied Kulikov had to be helped off the ice by a Jets trainer as Hertl and Winnipeg defenseman Jacob Trouba wrestled each other to the ice.
The Sharks trailed the Jets 2-0 at the time of the penalty, 8:13 into the first period. Little scored on the ensuing Winnipeg power play to give the Jets a 3-0 lead.
The Sharks have a 12-2-3 record against Pacific Division opponents, which included a 6-2 win over the Ducks. They haven't fared as well against Central Division teams, though, losing three straight to fall to 2-3-1 for the season. That includes a 4-1 loss to the Jets in Winnipeg on Jan. 7.
Coming into Tuesday, the Jets had scored just one goal in regulation time or overtime in each of their last four games. That mattered little to Sharks coach Pete DeBoer, as Winnipeg still went 2-2 in those games and entered the day in first place in the Central.
The Jets entered the game with a 13-3-0 record against the Pacific Division.
"They're a really good team," DeBoer said Tuesday morning. "I think we've been through the league now and seen everybody. They're in my mind, one of the top teams in the league as far as depth and the type of pressure they can put on you with the skill they have."
By the time the Sharks finish this week, they'll have played eight games in 13 days and basically used up the games in hand that they had accrued through the first three months of the Sharks.
Since their bye week ended, the Sharks have gone 5-1, moving from four points out of third place in the Pacific Division on the morning of Jan. 13 to second place with 58 points.
The Sharks host the New York Rangers on Thursday to close out the nearly two-week grind before the start of the NHL All-Star break on Friday.
"For us, the focus is, we've had a good stretch here. We can make it a really great one or it could be kind of average," Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. "We can't take a deep breath yet. We've got to push through to the All-Star break and a win tonight would go a long way for sure."
_Goalie Martin Jones remained out with a lower body injury. DeBoer said he was hopeful Jones could be available to play Thursday against the New York Rangers, but reiterated that there were "no guarantees."
_Forward Joonas Donskoi missed his second straight game with the flu. Melker Karlsson took Donskoi's spot on the third line with Chris Tierney and Mikkel Boedker and Jannik Hansen was on the fourth line with Joel Ward and Barclay Goodrow.
