Jets lose late lead, fall in overtime to San Jose

WINNIPEG - The number two seemed to be a common theme on Monday night.
Two members of the Winnipeg Jets hit milestones (and even they had the number two involved), as Nino Niederreiter scored his 200th career goal and Nate Schmidt notched his 200th career point.
But it was the two points the Jets didn't get that made the night so frustrating.
Leading the San Jose Sharks 2-1 in the final seconds, the visitors tied the game - at two - with 10.2 seconds left on the clock on a goal from Tomas Hertl.
Then, in overtime, the Sharks - on their second shot of three-on-three - won the game on a slick breakaway move from Logan Couture, his 22nd goal of the season.
"We have to win that game," said Niederreiter, who now has a three-game point streak with the Jets. "It definitely could have gone a lot differently tonight. But in the end we lost the game and it's on us."

He's not wrong. The Jets (36-26-2) did basically everything but win the game. They outshot San Jose 38-24 and earned six power plays thanks to using their speed and a relentless forecheck.
But James Reimer seemed to be up to nearly every challenge. Only Niederreiter and Schmidt could beat him, but there were glorious opportunities that slipped just out of Winnipeg's grasp.

Morgan Barron had two shorthanded opportunities - a two-on-one that Reimer sprawled across and snatched out of the air, and a breakaway in the same period that the Sharks goaltender got a skate on after Barron had cut across the crease and outwaited him. On top of that, Blake Wheeler and Adam Lowry both missed empty nets, ones that they'd normally cash in on.
"He made a lot of great saves. Give him credit for that," said Jets head coach Rick Bowness. "They're bearing down, they're trying. Some nights the other goalie is just better than the shooter. That's one of those nights."
San Jose picked up the game's opening goal with 5:47 remaining, when Steven Lorentz banged home his seventh of the season when Jets goaltender David Rittich wasn't able to freeze a loose puck.
The Jets found the equalizer in the second, as Niederreiter's perfectly placed wrister from the left circle beat Reimer high on the glove side. It was the forward's first goal as a Jet with Josh Morrissey and Kyle Connor picked up assists 6:05 into the middle frame.
"It's definitely a great mark and I'm definitely proud of it but hopefully there's more to come," said Niederreiter, who also enjoyed the fans chanting his name for the second time in three home games.
"It's a great team, a great organization and passionate fanbase, so it has been great being here."

It looked like the Jets found the game-winner with 5:07 remaining in regulation. Just as their final power play of the night expired, Nikolaj Ehlers slid a perfect backhand pass from below the goal line to Schmidt, who flipped the puck into the top corner for his sixth of the season.
Schmidt, who was scratched on Saturday, responded with not only the goal, but also tying his season-high of four shots on goal in 15:05 of ice time.
"I was pretty fired up," Schmidt said. "It's that time (of the season) where you need to start finding it. If we continue to play like that and get our chances and continue to forecheck the way we did tonight, our team is finding a way to get this thing moving in the right direction."
There was one area of the game that the Sharks were dominant in, and that was the face-off circle. They won 62 percent of the draws, and at no time was it more important in the final minutes with Reimer pulled for the extra attacker. Hertl won two face-offs in the final 1:26, and ultimately tied the game when an Erik Karlsson point shot went off a stick and right to the Sharks forward, who beat Rittich to pull the visitors even.
"Hertl goes 16 and 3 or whatever it was," said Bowness. "They had a dominant night at faceoffs."
Couture's overtime winner came shortly after Reimer's final save of the evening, as Karlsson sent him in alone for the clincher with 3:39 remaining.
Instead of the two points they wanted, the Jets were forced to settle for one.
"We outplayed them tonight," said Bowness. "It's hard when you lose that extra point in overtime. You're disappointed.
"Did we play a bad game? Absolutely not. Did we deserve two points? Yeah. But we didn't get them. That's hockey."