After one of the most memorable nights of his career, Patrick Marleau scored the game-winning goal late in the third period as the Sharks downed the Jets at MTS Centre on Tuesday night, 4-3.
Following up on his four-goal game in Colorado on Monday, Marleau received a seam pass from Ryan Carpenter and had all kinds of room to whip through his 17th goal of the season, and fifth in the last two games.
The Sharks (31-16-2, 64 points) increased their season-long winning streak to six games, and took over first place in the Pacific Division.
The teams were tied at 2-2 to start the third, before the Jets took their first lead of the night shortly after that. A point slapper by Josh Morrissey was kicked to the slot by Aaron Dell, and Bryan Little swooped in. Little’s rebound attempt hit the cross bar, but tricked in off of Dell’s backside at the four-minute mark for his second of the evening.
Later, though, Melker Karlsson was awarded a shorthanded penalty shot after Jacob Trouba slashed him from behind. Karlsson went top corner through Ondrej Pavalec at 9:37.
The Sharks improved to 8-2-0 in their last 10 games, while Winnipeg lost for the fifth time in its last eight (2-5-1).
Each team traded scores in each of the first two periods.
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Brent Burns got the Sharks on the board with a slapper on a five-on-three advantage, for his 21st of the season at 3:59. It was the defenseman’s sixth goal in the last nine games.
Winnipeg answered with a partial breakaway goal by Little, who slipped the puck underneath Dell at 8:02.
San Jose took another lead early in the second. The Jets were caught flat-footed in their own zone, and Mikkel Boedker found Logan Couture cutting to the net. Couture shoveled the pass into an open net 27 seconds after the faceoff.
Again, the Jets responded. A howitzer by Andrew Copp from the circle found the top near corner with 1:59 to go before the second intermission to make it 2-2.
Earlier in the day, the Sharks traded forward Tommy Wingels to the Ottawa Senators for forwards Buddy Robinson and Zack Stortini, and a seventh round pick in the 2017 draft. Robinson and Stortini were immediately assigned to the AHL Barracuda.
