Jets build early lead, but can't hold off Sharks rally in San Jose

SAN JOSE - The start was ideal - but the final result was far from it.
The Winnipeg Jets built a 2-0 lead on the San Jose Sharks, only to see them rally back with four unanswered goals to build a 4-2 lead.
Jansen Harkins scored late in the third, but the Jets couldn't find the equalizer, dropping a 4-3 decision at SAP Center.
Pierre-Luc Dubois and Andrew Copp had the other goals for the Jets.
"We kind of lost momentum from that first goal and it went from there," said Dubois. "The way we want to play and the way we talk about playing, is fast. There's a grey area between playing too fast and not supporting and playing too slow and being easy to check.
"For us, in the second period, we got spread out, the forwards got spread out from the defencemen and that made it hard to make plays."

As they were in Wednesday's loss to the Anaheim Ducks, special teams once again proved costly for the Jets (0-2-0).

While Copp's marker was shorthanded, Winnipeg's penalty kill gave up another two goals (finishing three-for-five) and the power play came up empty on three chances.
"We were much better in the faceoff circle tonight which really hurt us the last game," said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. "We did score a shortie but we've given up four in two games and you can't win like that."
Copp was second among Jets forwards in ice time with an even 20 minutes. 3:27 of that came on the penalty kill.
"Seems like we're a bit disconnected. You know, maybe on the kill specifically," said Copp. "Maybe our forwards and D are just a little too far apart, a little disconnected in the way we're going."
The disconnected feeling also bled into the five-on-five game, where Maurice felt the Jets were "out of sync" in their transition game.
"There were lots of times, even defensively, where we were too slow so it wasn't just with the puck and that would be the biggest focus there," Maurice said. "But what we do with the puck isn't more important than what we do without it."
The Jets got off to a strong start just 4:20 into the first, as Dubois posted up in front of Sharks goaltender Adin Hill, then banged home a rebound to put the Jets up 1-0. The point shot came off the stick of Brenden Dillon, who played with the Sharks for six seasons between 2014 and 2020.
The trio of Dubois, Copp, and Nikolaj Ehlers were all over the ice in the first period, four scoring chances (two of the high-danger variety) and giving up none against per Natural Stat Trick.

"We talked this year about not changing the way that we play, but bringing a new aspect to it," said Dubois. "It takes time, it takes communication and it takes practice. It takes video.
"So, it's just getting through the speed bump."
Early in the second, the Jets built a 2-0 lead on a shorthanded marker. With 1:09 gone off the. Clock, Adam Lowry pounced on a turnover below the goal line in the San Jose zone and quickly fed Copp in front. Copp fired it through Hill's legs for his first of the season, and Winnipeg's first shorthanded marker of the season.
But the Jets would give up a shorthanded marker just 2:29 later. Andrew Cogliano broke down the left wing and sent a wrist shot high short side on Connor Hellebuyck to pull the Sharks back within one.
That's where Copp felt the momentum shift a bit.
"It's tough, right, you play on the power play, you think we need to score a goal to get going," said Copp. "You think you're going to win a race. And then it's kind of going the other way."
San Jose tied the game up before the end of the second, as Jasper Weatherby scored his first NHL goal on the power play with Josh Morrissey in the box. Weatherby's wrist shot from the left face-off dot beat Hellebuyck on the glove side, tying the game at two.

Another Jets penalty early in the third gave the Sharks their fourth power play chance - and once again they made the visitors pay. This time, Willam Eklund's wrist shot was stopped by Hellebuyck, but Tomas Hertl was there to shovel home the loose puck to give San Jose their first lead of the game.
They extended the lead 97 seconds later, as Rudolfs Balcers pounced on a loose puck - which came after two big saves from Hellebuyck - to make it 4-2 San Jose.
There was some pushing and shoving in the crease after that goal, which was just one of a few scrums between the two squads on this night.
"It feels like with the crowds it's like a playoff game every time," said Copp. "Which is obviously great after not having them for a full season. It's obviously great to have them back and the intensity is definitely up these first two games."
Harkins scored his first of the season with 6:31 to go in the third, but the Jets couldn't find the equalizer after that.
With the final stop on the road trip coming on Tuesday in Minnesota, Maurice feels the team's focus is simple.
"The foundation of what we do has to be fast on both sides of the puck, regardless of routes and schemes and things like that with the puck," said Maurice. "We've got to get a hell of a lot quicker."