Tyler Toffoli scored for the fourth time in five games, and Luke Kunin and Fabian Zetterlund both found the back of the net, but the San Jose Sharks could not overcome a disastrous first period in a 8-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.
The Sharks, looking weary early on after a two-goal loss to the Chicago Blackhawks the night before, were under siege for the first 20 minutes of Friday’s game as the Jets built a 4-1 lead with two goals from Nikolaj Ehlers and one each from Josh Morrissey and Neal Pionk.
After Kyle Connor, with all kinds of time and space in the San Jose zone, scored an even-strength goal at the 1:46 mark of the second period to give the Jets a 5-1 lead, coach Ryan Warsofsky pulled starting goalie Mackenzie Blackwood in favor of Vitek Vanecek.
Blackwood stopped just 13 of 18 shots in the loss, allowing power-play goals to Ehlers and Pionk, but didn’t have much help from the skaters in front of him. The Sharks had nine giveaways and took five minor penalties in the first two periods, paving the way for their fifth straight loss to start the season for a third straight year.
The Sharks (0-3-2) were called for seven penalties — with the Jets (4-0-0) scoring on four power plays — en route to their most lopsided loss of the year.
Vanecek, who made 23 saves Thursday in the Sharks’ 4-2 to the Blackhawks, finished with 14 saves in relief as the Sharks ended the three-game road trip with a record of 0-2-1.
The Sharks next host the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday at 5 p.m.
Toffoli scored a power-play goal off a seeing-eye pass by defenseman Jake Walman from the point at the 11:43 mark of the first period. But less than two minutes later, a Sharks turnover at the offensive blue line led to a Jets rush that was finished by Ehlers, who set a career-high with three points in the first period.
Kunin’s goal, his first of the season, came at the 10:28 mark of the second period as he took a pass from Carl Grundstrom and fired a shot between the legs of Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, last year’s Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie.
Zetterlund scored his third of the season at the 10:09 mark of the third period, but that was sandwiched by a pair of third-period power-play goals by Cole Perfetti. Vladislav Namestnikov added a goal with 32.3 seconds left in the third period.
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