CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos on a mobile device
SAN JOSE — Nearly four weeks after their last meeting, the Sharks still didn’t have much of an answer for Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck.
The Sharks had 33 shots in Wednesday’s game at SAP Center but could only muster a goal by Melker Karlsson in a 5-1 loss to the Jets that snapped San Jose’s three game winning streak.
“We just weren’t good enough,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said. “Power play wasn’t good, kind of sucked the life out of us. We didn’t have any emotion in the game.”
Hellebuyck, who made 51 saves in the Jets’ 3-2 win in San Jose on Nov. 1, had 20 saves through the first two periods Wednesday. For the game, he made eight saves on the penalty kill, as the Sharks went 0 for 6 with the man advantage.
“We had some looks, but we’ve got to do more,” Couture said. “More traffic, rebounds, second opportunities. He’s a big guy. Takes up a lot of the net. If he’s seeing it, he’s probably going to stop it. We needed to do a better job getting in front of him.”
Meanwhile, Sharks goalie Aaron Dell allowed four goals on the Jets’ first 15 shots, including a dicey one to David Gustafsson at the 18:09 mark of the first period that gave the Jets a 2-1 lead.
Patrik Laine also scored on a Jets power play in the first period and Mark Scheifele and Jack Roslovic both scored in the second. Kyle Connor added an empty-net goal at the 14:47 mark of the third period as the Sharks desperately tried to beat Hellebuyck once more.
The Sharks had won nine of 10 games coming into Wednesday, which included recent overtime victories over the Vegas Golden Knights, New York Islanders and Los Angeles Kings. But it was also their fifth game in nine days.
There’s no letup, either, as the Sharks play at home against Los Angeles on Friday afternoon and travel to face the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.
“We were lifeless, so, I don’t know what the answer is,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said when asked about the fatigue factor. “We’ve got a lot of hockey left to player here over the next two, three weeks. I hope it’s not fatigue, but if it is. we’ve got to rebound because you get what you earn in this league usually, and we didn’t do enough to win a game tonight.”
Their loss Wednesday dropped the Sharks’ record in November to 9-4-0. The Jets improved to 9-2-1 this month.
Throughout their brief win streak, the Sharks lamented the amount of penalties they were taking. Although the Sharks were 14 for 14 on the penalty kill in the victories over the Golden Knights, Islanders and Kings, they were putting extra strain on their top forwards. They took four more penalties Wednesday.
The Sharks, for the fourth straight game with Tomas Hertl out with a lower body injury, dressed 11 forwards and seven defenseman.
Forwards like Couture, Evander Kane, Barclay Goodrow and Timo Meier have all been playing more minutes than usual, and the Sharks had concerns the extra workload would add up over time.
Hertl is considered day-to-day, although he took a step closer to a return earlier Wednesday when he took part in the Sharks’ morning skate.
The Sharks outshot the Jets 9-8 after the first period but trailed 2-1.
Melker Karlsson got the Sharks on the board at the 9:28 mark of the first. He collected a puck in the neutral zone before he streaked into the Jets end all alone. Karlsson then beat Hellebuyck with a wrist shot high to the glove side for his second goal of the season as he ended a 12-game goal drought.
The Jets got that goal back less than four minutes later. With Meier off for tripping, Jets captain Blake Wheeler sent a seam pass from side of the Sharks’ zone to Laine, who was stationed neat the other faceoff dot and one-timed it past Dell at the 12:15 mark.
Then, with 1:51 left in the first, Dell could not handle a seemingly innocent wrist shot from Gustafsson, as the puck bounced off his glove and into the net.
Dell was making his first start since he made 37 saves in the Sharks’ 2-1 overtime win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Nov. 21. His record this season fell to 3-4-0.
