The Winnipeg Jets were coming into Monday night’s game against the San Jose Sharks on a league leading 9 game winning streak….could they keep it going against the NHL’s worst team? They already are only one of five teams in National Hockey League history to have three winning streaks of at least 7 games in one season, why not chase the Penguins’ record of 17 straight victories?
GAME RECAP
When the game got underway, it was the Jets that started out with more jump in their steps and that allowed them to control the puck for the majority of the 1st period. Despite Winnipeg dictating the pace early on, neither squad could really create a highly dangerous scoring chance until later in the period. The True Northers had their best look of the game when Cole Perfetti set up Nikolaj Ehlers on a 2 on 1 break, but the puck just sailed over the crossbar and the game remained scoreless. After Connor Hellebuyck denied a San Jose 2 on 1, the Jets got another good look when Perfetti, Dylan Samberg, & Vladislav Namestnikov teamed up with some pretty passing to create a low slot 1 timer. As the period wore on, the Sharks ended up with the game’s first powerplay when captain Adam Lowry was nabbed for goalie interference after driving hard to the net on a scoring chance. This gave SJ the chance to spend some time in Winnipeg’s zone and after some nice passing, rookie Macklin Celebrini set up fellow youngster William Eklund for a 1 time blast. SJ 1 – WPG 0. The visitors were energized by the opening goal and picked up their pace for the remainder of the frame, but Winnipeg ended up out-shooting San Jose 10-6 when the first intermission began.
The middle period was a much more even in terms of puck possession, helped by the fact that the Jets had to kill off two tripping penalties which allowed the Sharks to spend less time defending. Winnipeg’s top line had a great shift later in the frame and the team hit their 2nd post of the game when a point shot was loudly deflected off the crossbar. A late puck over glass penalty by San Jose gave the Jets’ deadly powerplay their first look, but they hardly looked dangerous as they passed the puck around the perimeter for 2 minutes without really testing the opposing tender. When the 2nd period ended, the Jets were still ahead in the expected goals battle (WPG 2.33 SJ 1.73) yet the Sharks were still holding onto a 1 goal lead.
After watching Prime’s enjoyable segment about the history of African-Americans in the NHL and hearing from former Jets Pokey Reddick and Ray Neufeld, it was back to the hockey action. Winnipeg continued to look like the better team in the final frame, out-shooting San Jose 13 to 3 in the 3rd and controlling the puck for most of the time. The Sharks did have a couple counter-attack chances that Hellebuyck had to deal with, but mostly the viewers were left with only one question….could the Jets actually beat San Jose’s Vitek Vanecek tonight? The True Northers continued to push for the equalizer, but either the defense, goaltender, or the iron of the goal posts denied their quest (blast from the point by Colin Miller solidly hit iron). As my hopes for Winnipeg to pull a rabbit out of their hat diminished, coach Scott Arniel pulled the goalie for the extra attacker with a minute to play. The Jets swarmed the Sharks’ end and got quite a few chances, but it looked like a SJ defender was going to be able to ease the pressure by clearing the puck. Defenseman Josh Morrissey stopped the clearance along the left boards, keeping the puck in the zone before stepping in to fire a shot towards the Sharks’ net. The blast ended up catching a bit of Vanecek’s shoulder….yet still had enough force to bulge the twine with just 26 seconds remaining in the match. WPG 1 SJ 1.
Going to overtime for the second straight game, the Winnipeg Jets were able to avoid a shootout when Ehlers unleashed a shot just 1 and a half minutes into OT. While Vanacek was able to make the save through the maze of bodies in front, the puck bounced cleanly out to the low slot and allowed Mark Scheifele to find the five hole for the game winner.
FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG 2 SAN JOSE 1 (OT)
FINAL STATS
Shots: 35-18 WPG / Hits: 22-19 SJ / Face-Offs: 51.7% WPG / x Goals: 3.08 WPG – 2.71 SJ /
MoneyPuck’s Deserve to Win: 63.6% WPG / High-Medium Danger Scoring Chances: 16 to 7 WPG
SCORING SUMMARY from ESPN
SHOT CHART from MoneyPuck
ADVANCED SKATER STATS from MoneyPuck
GOALIE STATS from ESPN & MoneyPuck
If you would like to dive deeper into the game’s stats, follow the links below to the game pages:
MoneyPuck: San Jose Sharks vs. Winnipeg Jets – Monday February 24 2025 – MoneyPuck.com
NaturalStatTrick: San Jose Sharks @ Winnipeg Jets, 2025-02-24
BOJA’s Observations:
- With the OT winner, Mark Scheifele is now the franchise’s all time leading goal scorer as he passed Ilya Kovalchuk. He is also leading Winnipeg with 32 goals this year. Great season so far from the Jets’ top pivot.
- This game was yet another stellar example of how good Dylan Samberg really is. The 2nd pairing had an incredible 95.1% of expected goals against the Sharks. He is also getting more involved offensively, so I don’t think he has even reached his ceiling yet. Get him locked up Chevy!!
- Rough outing for the 3rd defensive pairing again (11.5% xG). To me, this is the most needed area to fix come trade deadline.
- While Winnipeg controlled this game for the most part, it is a bit worrying that most of their chances came off rushes. The Jets need to do a better job creating prolonged pressure and/or getting to those rebounds for second chances. MoneyPuck’s shot chart shows our squad had plenty of looks from high danger areas, but when a goalie is on their game it often takes more to get a goal than just a good scoring chance.
Well, that is about all I have time for. Glad the Winnipeg Jets won, but am not sure they have to wait until the last second all the time (tied the last two games with 26 & 27 seconds remaining). I am in my 50’s, so that puts unnecessary strain on the ol’ ticker.
Let me hear your thoughts on the game in the Comment section and we’ll see you back here on Wednesday.
UP NEXT: Winnipeg Jets @ Ottawa Senators – Wednesday, February 26th @ 6:00 pm CST
