Six different goal scorers power Jets to win over Sharks

WINNIPEG -The Winnipeg Jets put the exclamation mark on a nearly perfect home stand with a dominant 6-2 win over the San Jose Sharks.
It capped off a five-game stretch at Canada Life Centre that saw the Jets take eight of 10 possible points, outscoring their opponents 21-8.
"I think we're playing with a freedom since we got back off the road," said Josh Morrissey, who had a goal and two assists on the night. "We've still been in the driver's seat throughout that time, so you take care of our business, that's what we have to do. I think we're playing free; we're playing aggressive and confident and on our toes, and that's what makes us a great hockey team."
Six different goal scorers powered the Jets offence, and seven different players had multi-point outings in the win, which moved the Jets to within one point of clinching their spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It was the type of total team effort the Jets had been building toward throughout the home stand, especially the last two games.

"We were relentless all night," said Appleton. "We knew what our game plan was and we knew if we worked our tail off for 60 minutes that we felt we were a better hockey team than them. Throughout the course of the game, we were able to show that."

For the first time on the home stand, the Jets gave up the first goal, as Erik Karlsson finished off a San Jose rush just 20 seconds into the game.
Winnipeg responded quickly, as they drew a penalty on Kevin Labanc on the next shift. Then, they needed just 34 seconds of power play time for Pierre-Luc Dubois to finish off a three-way passing play, which began with Nikolaj Ehlers in the left circle. Ehlers found Mark Scheifele on the goal line, and he popped it out to Dubois in the slot for his 27th of the campaign.
"That's what the power play can do for you," said Morrissey. "We needed it to step up there and after that I felt like we took over the game."

Adam Lowry put the Jets in front 6:03 later, finishing off a shift that saw him dive for a loose puck off the face-off, allowing the Jets to get control. Later in the shift, as Nino Niederreiter's wrap around attempt went through the crease, Lowry fought off Sharks defenceman Jacob MacDonald and knocked it home to make it 2-1 Winnipeg. Along with Niederreiter, Nate Schmidt picked up a secondary assist on Lowry's 12th of the season.
That became a two-goal cushion with Kyle Connor's 32nd of the season, as he tipped home a Dylan DeMelo wrister from the point with 5:34 remaining in the first. Josh Morrissey, who picked up the secondary assist in his 500th NHL game, was the one who made the defensive play in the Winnipeg zone to start play back the other way, leading to the Connor tally.
After a scoreless second, the Jets needed just 16 seconds of the third period to make it 4-1. Mason Appleton pounced on a rebound - the result of Niederreiter deflecting a Lowry pass into Reimer's pads - and smacked home his fourth of the season.

It was a goal that felt particularly good for Appleton, who was one of many Jets that Sharks goaltender James Reimer stopped on high-quality chances in the first two meetings between the two teams this season.
"I almost didn't believe it was in for a second," said Appleton. "Tonight, we come in and we do a good job again for basically all three periods."
Karlsson responded with a power play marker to pull San Jose back within two - also giving the Sharks defenceman 100 points on the season, the first to accomplish that feat since Brian Leetch in 1991-92 - but Morrissey, also in the Norris Trophy conversation with Karlsson, helped the Jets answer right back. His slapshot from the top of the left circle zipped past Reimer 2:06 after the San Jose goal to make it 5-2.

Morrissey, now with 75 points on the season, has the second most points among defencemen in the NHL behind Karlsson's 100.
"The plays he makes, his ability on the blue line and then to jump up on the rush, it's amazing," said Morrissey. "A hundred points is pretty rare company, of course, and to do it now is pretty unreal. So, hats off to him and, for me, he's a guy that I've been watching play a long time and it's cool to compete against him and I'm happy for him."

Scheifele finished the night off with his 41st of the season, which came just six seconds into Winnipeg's second power play of the night. Connor, from the right side of the ice, spotted Scheifele backing into open space in the left circle, and put it right in the wheelhouse.
Scheifele made no mistake, and the Jets power play was a perfect two-for-two in just 40 seconds of work.
"The power play the last three games has looked really good," said Bowness. "We haven't scored in those last three games, but it's looked a lot better than it had earlier. So it was nice to see the power play get a couple tonight."
They rode the clock out to the end of the game, and the end of the home half of the regular season schedule.

Winnipeg now embarks on a short two-game road trip which begins on Tuesday night in Minnesota.
Both teams will be playing on back-to-back nights, and the Jets - who have yet to beat the Wild this year - know the job they have to do.
"There's no sense of letting your foot off the gas or sense of satisfaction or anything like that," Morrissey said. "Until you have that checkmark beside your name on that standings sheet, we got to keep fighting and pushing for it. Tomorrow will be a tough game."