Hellebuyck makes 51 saves, Ehlers scores late to help Jets top Sharks

SAN JOSE -- Connor Hellebuyck made 51 saves, and Nikolaj Ehlers broke a tie with 1:24 remaining in the third period to give the Winnipeg Jets a 3-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Friday.

Gabriel Bourque and Blake Wheeler also scored for Winnipeg (7-7-0), which was outshot 53-19.
"There was a stretch there where I was praying a little, but the guys were great about letting me see things," said Hellebuyck, who set an NHL career-high in saves. "This is the result of the pucks going my way."
WATCH: [All Jets vs. Sharks highlights]
Barclay Goodrow and Tomas Hertl scored for San Jose (4-9-1), which opened a six-game homestand with a fourth straight loss. Martin Jones made 16 saves.
"We let them hang around, and it's those one or two mistakes you make that come back to haunt you," Sharks forward Evander Kane said. "And that's what happened tonight."
Ehlers gave the Jets a 3-2 lead when he one-timed Jack Roslovic's pass from behind the net past Jones at the right face-off circle for his seventh goal of the season.
"You know what? I thought there might be the other positive [besides Hellebuyck], because Jack Roslovic created that goal, and he needed to because he was so bad through two-and-a-half [periods]," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "But you know what? Good for him. That's important. You play 82 games, and you're going to have a night where you just can't get it done, it's not going for you. But he didn't sulk, he didn't sit on the bench. He went out, he and [Ehlers] win us the game, along with our goaltender, after a real, real tough night.
"I got a lot more faith in him that there's a young man that's going to stay in the game. He's learned a really valuable lesson; stay in the game, stay in the fight, because you truly can be the difference maker."

Bourque gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 13:34 of the first period with his first goal of the season.
Goodrow tied it 1-1 for the Sharks at 3:18 of the second period, when San Jose outshot Winnipeg 28-9.
"He's had a history of having a night he didn't like and coming back and being just about unbeatable," Maurice said of Hellebuyck, referring to Winnipeg's 7-4 loss at the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday. "It's probably the only story of the game. Those are traffic shots, and there's so much hard work that goes into doing what he did tonight; fighting through to see pucks, moving when you're on the ice and there's nothing but legs and sticks flying. He was fantastic.
"We wouldn't want to see that too often. We'll take the goaltending every night, but San Jose was really good. Our goalie was really good."
Kane thought he gave San Jose a 2-1 lead with a rebound shot from the side of the net, but replays concluded Kevin Labanc made contact with Hellebuyck's pad.
Wheeler scored his fifth of the season 31 seconds after the no-goal call at 7:53 to give Winnipeg a 2-1 lead.
"We caught a break there," Wheeler said. "Those ones seem to go against us more than for us, so it was nice to grab a win with one of those challenges. It gives you a little bit of new life to go down 2-1, and then all of sudden it's a tie game and you then pop one in right after. It was good little change of momentum for us."

Hertl tied the game 49 seconds into the third period during a delayed penalty to make it 2-2.
"We've been a little fragile lately," DeBoer said. "That could have been a point where we hung our head and didn't respond, but I really liked our response."

They said it

"In fairness, we should just talk about Connor Hellebuyck tonight. You can beat me about the head and face tomorrow for the style of game that we played tonight." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice
"That's the team I'm familiar with, and that's the style that's nice to see. We haven't seen it in a while. It would have been nice to get rewarded for it. But if we play that type of game, the wins will come." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer

Need to know

Ehlers has four goals and two assists for six points in his past four games. … Jets forward CJ Suess played 6:26 in his NHL debut. … The Sharks' 28 shots on goal in the second was one shy of their record in a single period (29 against the Florida Panthers on March 18, 2014). … Hertl has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his past nine games; Kane has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in his past 11.

What's next

Jets: At the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN360, CITY, SNE, SNO, SNW, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Sharks: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN1, SNP, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)