What will it take for the San Jose Sharks to pull out a victory this season? While last night’s game in Winnipeg was impressive for the Sharks to hold a 1-0 lead against one of the top teams in the NHL, they continue to lose it in the last half of their matchups. The Winnipeg Jets hold the first-place spot for the Central Division with 85 points in the 58 games they have played in the 2024-25 season and are now on a 10-game win streak. Now, It’s hard to face the number one team as the defenders of the bottom spot of the Pacific Division and the NHL, but the Sharks did put up a fight for the majority of the game.
Looking at the heat map in all situations from Natural Stat Trick, the Sharks did have a fair amount of range when it came to shooting.
The Sharks’ only goal came from forward William Eklund, who has put up 12 goals this season, with a 5-game point streak. He ranks in the top three goal scorers on the team, the other two being members of Eklund’s same line (The 70’s line), Tyler Toffoli and Macklin Celebrini.
The game last night was penalty-heavy, causing many power-play opportunities for the Sharks.
Sadly, at the end of the third period, Josh Morrisey scored Winnipeg the game-tying goal, unassisted with 30 seconds left in the game. While the Jets fans at the Canada Life Centre erupted in roaring cheer, the Sharks were left with a big responsibility in overtime.
Head coach of the Sharks, Ryan Warsofsky, started with an Alex Wennberg, Mario Ferraro and Collin Graf line. While the Sharks had the puck in their zone for the first minute of overtime, that and the game ended with a game-winning goal by Mark Scheifele for the Jets.
The 70’s line
Though this was another tough loss on the Shark’s end, we need to give credit where it’s due. The famous 70’s line continues to shine this season. With a goal from Eklund and the assist by Celebrini, the line continues to lead the team in points, with all three members being the top goal scorers on the team.
As we can see here on the chart by Hockey Stat Cards, Celebrini, and Eklund stood out in this game both defensively and offensively. With this talent throughout games, it made fans wonder why Warsofsky put in Ferraro, Graf and Wennberg for overtime. San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng gives us an answer:
However, the stat card referenced before does not show that. Was it a mistake?
Vanecek is a brick wall
While the Sharks had a heavy loss, goaltender Vitek Vanecek still came out as the first star of last night’s matchup. The goalie had made 10 saves by the end of the first, 21 by the second, and 33 by the end of the game. He has an average of 32 saves in his last five games.
In the past few games, Vanecek has proven himself as perhaps one of the strongest parts of this team. Fans and outlets and even teammates rave about his stop-ability.
We can only imagine how great the Sharks will be as a whole once the right lines are changed. At the end of the day, this was another tough loss but a game well played by San Jose’s shining stars.
Scoring summary San Jose Sharks vs. Winnipeg Jet Feb. 24, 2025
First Period
15:07 SJS William Eklund from Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith on the power play
Second Period
No scoring
Third Period
19:34 WPG Josh Morrissey unassisted with an empty net
Overtime
1:33 WPG Mark Scheifele from Nikolaj Ehlers and Kyle Connor
