Until the final minute, it looked like it wasn’t going to be the Winnipeg Jets’ night.
But a late goal by Josh Morrissey sent it to overtime before Mark Scheifele banged home a rebound to give the Jets a 2-1 win over the San Jose Sharks Monday night, extending their win streak to 10 games.
The goal was the 329th of Scheifele’s career, breaking a tie with Ilya Kovalchuk to become the franchise’s all-time goal scoring leader.
Things got a bit frisky about 13 minutes into the game. Cole Perfetti was digging for a puck as Vitek Vanecek froze it, leading to a tussle after the whistle that got Nikolaj Ehlers and Jack Thompson matching minors for roughing.
A little over a minute later, Adam Lowry carried the puck into the Sharks’ zone with a burst of speed but as he drove the net he lost his balance and ran over Vanecek, giving San Jose a 4-on-3 power play that they made count.
Macklin Celebrini set up William Eklund for a one-timer with a no-look pass that Eklund blasted high over Connor Hellebuyck’s blocker for the opening goal at the 15:07 mark.
San Jose carried the 1-0 advantage into the second despite being outshot 10-6 in the opening frame.
With just under five minutes gone in the second, San Jose got their second power play look of the night when Dylan DeMelo was called for tripping but this time the Jets got the kill.
After several dominant minutes by the Jets that didn’t produce any goals, Kyle Connor was called for tripping, giving the Sharks a third power play of the game with under eight minutes to go in the second.
Celebrini nearly made it 2-0 a couple of times on the power play but he was denied by Hellebuyck, the best save of the night coming on a post-to-post pad save of a Celebrini one-timer.
With 3:01 remaining in the second, Winnipeg finally got a power play when Jake Walman shot the puck out of play from his own end. The Jets kept the puck in the Sharks end for most of the two minutes but were kept to the outside and couldn’t generate the equalizer.
Shots in the second were 11-10 in favour of Winnipeg but they remained behind 1-0 on the scoreboard heading to the third.
Less than a minute into the period, Celebrini was sent to the box for holding but once again the Jets’ league-best power play came up empty.
Colin Miller nearly tied it with about 11 minutes to go when his one-timer from the point beat Vanecek but rang off the iron.
Winnipeg pulled Hellebuyck for an extra skater with just under two minutes to go and it looked like the Sharks might be able to get to the finish line with the goose egg intact, but finally, with 25.9 seconds left, the Jets broke through.
Morrissey stepped into a slapshot that grazed off the leg of Mario Ferraro and past Vanecek to tie the game, sending the building into a frenzy and the game into overtime.
Winnipeg maintained possession for the bulk of the extra frame before Ehlers came off the bench and ripped a shot that Vanecek stopped but Scheifele slid home the rebound to end the game and give him his milestone marker.
Vanecek stopped 33 shots in defeat for the Sharks while Hellebuyck only had to make 17 saves, including just four combined in the third period and overtime.
Not only does the 10th win in a row extend the franchise record for longest win streak, it also eclipsed the longest mark that the original Jets franchise reached, having won nine straight in March of 1985.
Winnipeg will hit the road now as they try to keep the good times rolling, heading to Ottawa for a showdown with the Senators on Wednesday night.