Lowry’s late goal lifts Winnipeg Jets to 4-3 win in San Jose

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Peggy

There’s something about a trip to the Shark Tank that makes life difficult for the Winnipeg Jets.

It wasn’t easy but the Jets got a late tally from captain Adam Lowry to propel them past the pesky Sharks 4-3 in San Jose Tuesday night.

The Sharks controlled play to start the night, aided in part by an unsuccessful power play. They had 18 shot attempts to just four for the Jets in the first 12 minutes, one of which felled rookie Nikita Chibrikov and forced him to leave the game for the remainder of the period.

But with 7:42 to go in the first, it was the Jets who got on the board first thanks to their top line.

A lead pass from Dylan DeMelo was chipped into the San Jose zone by Gabriel Vilardi, resulting in a 2-on-1 for Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor. Scheifele collected the puck and held onto it as he skated through the faceoff circle before sending a pass in front to Connor, who deked past a helpless Alexandar Georgiev to open the scoring with his 18th of the season.

Story continues below advertisement

San Jose wound up outshooting the Jets 10-9 in the first but Winnipeg certainly played better after the Connor goal.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

It didn’t take long in the second for the Sharks to draw level. After Macklin Celebrini won a puck battle in the corner, he got the puck to Nikolai Kovalenko, who skated behind the Winnipeg net before sending the puck to a wide open Tyler Toffoli in front. The one-time Jet buried it past Connor Hellebuyck to make it 1-1 just 1:52 into the period.

The Sharks continued to control the bulk of play as the period rolled along before Lowry drew a hooking call, sending Winnipeg’s red-hot power play to work and they made no mistake. The top unit exhibited some great puck movement as Vilardi in the bumper spot sent it low to Cole Perfetti, who whipped a perfect seam pass to Scheifele for a one-timer that beat Georgiev to make it 2-1 Jets.

With just under four minutes to go in the period, Colin Miller went to the box and this time it was San Jose’s turn to cash in with the man advantage. Celebrini sent a no-look backhand on goal from the left faceoff dot and it skimmed along the ice and through the legs of a screened Hellebuyck to tie the game heading to the third.

San Jose grabbed their first lead of the game at the 4:44 mark of the third. With Neal Pionk caught trying to get back to the blue line after a pinch in the Sharks’ zone, Jake Walman chipped the puck to centre where Fabian Zetterlund picked it up to create an eventual 3-on-1. He held onto it as he entered the Winnipeg end, drifted to the slot and wired a wicked wrister over the shoulder of Hellebuyck to make it 3-2 Sharks.

Story continues below advertisement

Just past the midway point of the third, the Jets earned their second power play of the night when Mason Appleton was tripped in San Jose’s end and once again, Winnipeg’s top unit make the Sharks pay.

A little over a minute into the power play chance, a cross-ice pass from Vilardi gave Connor time and space to walk in from the right faceoff dot and rip a hard wrist shot past Georgiev to tie the game at the 11:56 mark.

The Sharks were sent back to the power play with 6:20 left when Nino Niederreiter was called for an illegal check to the head but Winnipeg managed to kill it off.

Winnipeg ramped up the pressure as the period wound down, leading to the go-ahead goal with just 1:13 to go. A point shot from DeMelo was just barely tipped by Lowry but it was enough to fool Georgiev and put the Jets ahead for good as the Sharks couldn’t generate much with the goalie pulled.

Hellebuyck made 32 saves to earn the win and keep the Jets in first place in the NHL standings.

Winnipeg is right back at it Wednesday night, taking on the Ducks in Anaheim at 9 p.m. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB begins at 7 p.m.