Perreault, Hellebuyck help Jets defeat Sharks

WINNIPEG -- Mathieu Perreault scored two goals, and Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves to help the Winnipeg Jets defeat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 at Bell MTS Place on Sunday.
Matt Hendricks and Marko Dano scored for the Jets (25-11-7), who are 16-3-1 at home, including 15-1-1 in their past 17 games. Andrew Copp and Tyler Myers each had two assists.

"It's great coming to the rink knowing we have a strong game here at home," Perreault said. "Not so sure why it's been that way, but we're having a lot of fun right now. We're just really happy with how things are going."
WATCH: [All Sharks vs. Jets highlights]
Logan Couture scored for the Sharks (21-13-6), and Martin Jones allowed three goals on 29 shots.
San Jose has lost four straight games and went 1-2-2 on its five-game road trip. The Sharks have five days off before hosting the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.
"We knew coming into tonight they're a good team, they're top of the conference and they're really good," Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. "We knew it was going to take a good game from us. I think we got that for the most part. Jones was great with our breakdowns, they just found a way to stick a few extra ones in the net."
Hendricks made it 1-0 at 12:42 of the first period on a partial breakaway after a bank pass off the boards from Joel Armia in the neutral zone.
"Just doing my part," Hendricks said. "Got a good break there on the goal. It feels good to help the team out any way that I can. We played a good team game."
Dano extended the Jets lead to 2-0, tipping Jacob Trouba's point shot past Jones at 11:03 of the second period.

Couture made it 2-1 when he scored his first goal since Dec. 9 (eight games) with a point shot on the power play at 14:47, but Perreault put the Jets up 3-1 with a power-play goal with 58 seconds left in the second.
"I thought we were OK," Couture said. "We would have liked to get another power-play goal and shut them down on our [penalty kill]. But they scored some timely goals that won the game. The third was tough, to come back down two against that team in the third period. They shut it down pretty good."
Perreault scored into an empty net at 16:48 of the third period to make it 4-1.
Jets forward Adam Lowry was a late scratch with an upper-body injury. Forward Jack Roslovic took his place in the lineup.

"I guess it shows how strong our game plan is -- it doesn't really matter who's in the lineup," Perreault said. "We're sticking to it, we're playing a strong game, and [Hellebuyck's] making the saves. Right now, it feels like we can probably play anybody and still win games, which is a great feeling to have."

Goal of the game

Perreault's goal at 19:02 of the second period.

Save of the game

Hellebuyck stopping Joel Ward on a breakaway at 2:02 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Hendricks' goal at 12:42 of the first period.

They said it

"What did we get, four points? Could have easily had six, which would have made it good. We didn't. I think we're in every game. The only game I thought was poor was the Dallas [Stars] game. Throw that one out, but the rest of the trip -- the third period [against the] Ottawa [Senators] you didn't like -- but I liked our first two. Tonight, I thought we hung in there in a tough situation and gave ourselves a chance anyway. Overall, we're OK. We're not perfect, we're not exactly where we want to be. But it could be worse." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer on their 1-2-2 road trip
"You've got to prepare every day like you're going to play, so I just went to bed and thought you're either going to be playing or not. So I'm going to prepare like I'm going to play, and I found out about five minutes left in warmup that [Adam Lowry] couldn't go, so …" -- Jets forward Jack Roslovic, who played his second NHL game

Need to know

Hellebuyck is 7-0-2 with 17 goals-against and two shutouts in his past nine starts. … San Jose forward Jannik Hansen was a healthy scratch. … The Sharks recalled forward Marcus Sorensen from the San Jose Barracuda of American Hockey League and put defenseman Dylan DeMelo (undisclosed) on injured reserve. Sorensen had two hits and two blocked shots in 13:11.

What's next

Sharks: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, FS-A, NHL.TV)
Jets: At the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, TSN3, NHL.TV)