Winnipeg Jets will go for his 10th straight victory when they host the sinking San Jose sharks on Monday night.
Jets came out of the four nations’ facial outages with a 4-3-Shootout victory in St. Louis Saturday night and set a franchise record with his ninth straight victory.
San Jose plays the second competition in a season-long seven-game trip after a 3-2 loss on Calgary Flames on Sunday evening.
Tyler Toffoli had a goal and an assist, and Rookie Macklin Celebrini made for the sharks, who have dropped five in a row and 11 of the last 12 games. Alexandar Georgiev made 33 rescues but lost his sixth straight start.
“If someone says they are good to lose games, I don’t want them to be honest in my team,” Toffoli said. “It’s one of the things where we just have to keep working and keep trying to find a way to fight and we have to get some winnings.”
Celebrini’s goal was his 18th and moved him a before Philadelfia’s Matvei Michkov for NHL Rookie Lead.
It was San Jose’s 19th goal loss of the season. They have an NHL host 37 points.
“I thought we had some really good opportunities,” Toffoli said. “A couple of mental mistakes, I think. It ended up costing us the game.”
Toffoli has points in six straight matches (four goals, four assists).
On Saturday, Gabe Viladi scored twice and Nikolaj Ehlers had the second goal in the Jets regulation, which became the first team in the NHL to reach 40 wins and remained first in the Western Conference with 83 points.
Kyle Connor scored the winning goal in Shootout and Eric Comrie made 21 rescues, including stopping all three shots he met in Shootout. Cole Perfetti (two assists) extended its points streak to six matches (one goal, seven assists).
“I just mentioned for the team that was a game where many different things were going on and these are the games late in the year that you need to get the two points, find a way to win,” said Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel. “It could be a playoffs, the same kind of things. We were down and found a way to come back.”
The resting game game 3-3 at 19:32 with a tip of Connor’s shot. Connor (30 goals, 40 assists) met the 70-point mark for the fourth time in his career.
“It was a good start to the last little distance with a victory,” Connor said. “It’s hard to win in this league no matter who you play every night.”
Jets has surpassed his opponents 39-19 during his winning line.
Winnipeg goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck and defender Josh Morrissey are expected to return to the lineup on Monday. They set out the game on Saturday after participating in the Face of the Four Nations.
Ehlers and Perfetti scored two goals each when Jets beat Sharks 8-3 in the team’s first meeting on October 18. On December 17, Connor had two goals and Adam Lowry scored the winning goal with just over a minute left in regulation when Jets gathered for a 4-3 victory.
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