Eklund scores tiebreaking goal late in 3rd period to send Sharks past Jets 2-1

By BEN ROSS
Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — William Eklund scored a tiebreaking power-play goal with 4:51 remaining in the third period and the San Jose Sharks beat the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Tuesday night.

Justin Bailey had a goal for San Jose, his first since March 2018 with Buffalo. Mikael Granlund added an assist to extend his point streak to six games.

“It’s a great power play there,” Eklund said of his goal. “I think we had a lot of opportunities before. Granny does a great play there of getting it over to me and I tried to rip it.”

Brenden Dillon scored for Winnipeg, which had its four-game winning streak snapped. Dillon spent six seasons with San Jose from 2014-20.

“I loved my time here,” he said. “I’m one of the proudest Sharks alumni ever. … Nice to score in this building. I’ve had a couple in here. But it was unfortunate not to get the win.”

Bailey gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead midway through the first period, beating Jets goalie Laurent Brossoit from the top of the circles. Dillon tied it later in the first.

Brossoit made 30 saves. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 36 shots for his fourth win of the season.

“Overall, it was a good game,” Blackwood said. “The boys played hard. They boxed out well and tried to limit second chances.”

The Sharks extended their point streak to four games (3-0-1) and improved to 6-2-1 in their last nine after starting 3-15-2.

“I think we’ve been building towards this for a while,” coach David Quinn said. “We’ve really had two seasons. We had the start, and then ever since then we’ve turned things around. I give our players and our leadership group a ton of credit. Slowly digging ourselves out of a hole.”

Jets leading scorer Kyle Connor missed the game after sustaining a lower-body injury in Sunday’s win against Anaheim. Connor returned to Winnipeg to be further evaluated by team doctors.

“No excuses,” coach Rick Bowness said. “We go with the guys we have and they’ve got to find a way to get the job done.”

San Jose was without defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic (personal reasons) and Matt Benning, who was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.

Sharks center Luke Kunin returned after missing five games with an upper-body injury.

UP NEXT

Jets: At the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.

Sharks: At the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night.

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