WINNIPEG, Manitoba _ The sting of Friday's third-period meltdown intensified Sunday as the Sharks lost the final game of their five-game trip in Winnipeg.
The Sharks put together a strong showing under challenging circumstances, but they came out on the wrong side of a 4-1 decision to the Winnipeg Jets (25-11-7), completing their trip with 1-2-2 record. The team is off for the next five days, returning to action Saturday in San Jose against Arizona.
The Sharks (21-13-6) faced a stacked deck in the final game of the trip. They were playing a matinee in their third game in four days, the last contest of a roadie that went from Dallas to Montreal to Toronto to Ottawa to Winnipeg in eight days. They also ran into some tough luck by drawing the Jets in the final stop, the top team in the Central Division (57 points) and the NHL's second-best home squad (16-3-1).
If the Sharks hadn't coughed up a three-goal lead in Ottawa on Friday, they would have finished the grueling trip with a respectable 2-2-1 record, making Sunday's loss a little less painful. Now, the Sharks enter the bye week clinging to a one-point lead over the Anaheim Ducks for the final playoff spot in the Pacific Division.
The Jets opened the scoring at 12:42 of the first when Matt Hendricks capitalized on a Sharks defensive miscue. Hendricks scored off a breakaway after defenseman Brenden Dillon got caught pinching in the neutral zone and Brent Burns made an errant swipe at the puck near the blue line, giving the Jets forward an open lane to the net.
Marko Dano gave the Jets a 2-0 lead at 11:03 of the second, redirecting a Jacob Trouba point shot through goalie Martin Jones' five hole.
The Sharks cut the lead in half at 14:47 of the middle stanza when Logan Couture scored his team-leading 16th goal on the power play, going top shelf from the left circle to earn his fourth point in two games. Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski picked up assists on the play.
But the Jets regained the two-goal advantage in the period's final minute, capitalizing on a power play after the Sharks came out on the wrong side of a tough call.
Chris Tierney received a goaltender interference penalty after he crashed into netminder Connor Hellebuyck on a two-on-one play, the result of a shove from Jets defenseman Toby Enstrom.
Mathieu Perreault scored on the ensuing power play, slipping a rebound in between Jones' legs to give the Jets a 3-1 edge.
Perreault added a second goal with 3:12 left in the third, scoring into an empty net.
