Music: {allcanada} Sharks edge Jets on Vlasic's late goal

Monday, January 5, 2015

{allcanada} Sharks edge Jets on Vlasic's late goal

The Good Wife / Girls / Happy Gilmore / Ghostbusters

WINNIPEG -- At the morning skate before their game against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday, San Jose Sharks coach Todd McLellan stressed several objectives for his struggling team.

McLellan wanted a better start and a "higher commitment level to the team game" from the Sharks, who were fresh off a five-goal loss at home against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.

McLellan's players followed through, delivering him a 3-2 win at MTS Centre on Marc-Edouard Vlasic's goal with 4.5 seconds left in the third period. The win began a three-game road trip through the Central Division that continues Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild.

Brent Burns and Melker Karlsson also scored for the Sharks (21-14-5), who were without center Joe Thornton (upper body) for the second consecutive game. Thornton's 33 points (nine goals, 24 assists) rank second on the Sharks in scoring.

Joe Pavelski had two assists for San Jose.

Jets captain Andrew Ladd and Jay Harrison each had a power-play goal for Winnipeg (20-13-7). The loss concluded a four-game homestand that saw the Jets go 1-3-0. They'll play five of their next six games on the road.

Five Winnipeg defensemen are out with long-term injuries after the Jets announced Monday that Grant Clitsome will likely be out on a week-to-week basis because of an upper-body injury.

Antti Niemi started for the Sharks for the eighth time in the past nine games and made 17 saves.

Michael Hutchinson continued his transition toward taking over Winnipeg's No. 1 goaltending job. Hutchinson had 34 saves in his fifth start in the past six games.

The Sharks used their struggling power play to build a 1-0 lead. The Sharks, who had one goal in 20 attempts in their past four games, had four minutes of power-play time to work with after Mathieu Perreault took a high-sticking double-minor 1:14 into the game.

San Jose forward Patrick Marleau won a faceoff to the point, and Burns beat Hutchinson with a low slap shot at 2:53. Burns leads all NHL defensemen with 11 goals. The assist ended Marleau's stretch of nine games without a point.

The Jets used their own power play to tie the game at 9:17 when Ladd placed a low wrist shot from the high slot past Niemi. Ladd's 15th goal tied him with Bryan Little for the Jets lead.

The Sharks regained the lead on Karlsson's third goal of the season 4:13 into the second period when Pavelski flung a shot on net from the right boards that Karlsson tipped through Hutchinson's pads.

An offseason signing from Skelleftea AIK of the Swedish Hockey League, the 24-year-old Karlsson has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his first 11 games since he made his NHL debut Dec. 9 after the Sharks recalled him from Worcester of the American Hockey League.

The Jets again used the power play to tie the game when Harrison's second goal of the season made it 2-2 on a shot from between the circles 4:03 into the third period. The goal was Harrison's first with the Jets, who acquired him from the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 18.

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