San Jose Sharks' Matt Benning (5) tries to clear the puck as Winnipeg Jets' Nino Niederreiter (62) takes a shot during first period NHL action in Winnipeg on Monday March 6, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Greenslade
WINNIPEG – Logan Couture scored 1:21 into overtime to snap the San Jose Sharks’ five-game winless streak with a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.
Couture went in alone on Jets netminder David Rittich and sent a backhand underneath him.
Steven Lorentz and Tomas Hertl also scored for the Sharks, Erik Karlsson contributed a pair of assists and Couture also had one helper.
James Reimer stopped 36 shots for San Jose (19-33-12), which finishes a back-to-back set Tuesday in Colorado against the Avalanche and are 1-4-1 in their past six games.
Jets defenceman Nate Schmidt had made it 2-1 with 5:07 remaining in the third period, but Hertl tied it up with 11 seconds left when the puck went off Winnipeg forward Blake Wheeler right to Hertl for his 17th goal of the season.
Nino Niederreiter also scored for the Jets (36-25-3) and Rittich made 21 saves for Winnipeg, which is 1-0-1 in a three-game homestand at Canada Life Centre.
Winnipeg was 0-for-6 on the power play and San Jose went 0-for-2.
Schmidt had scored from the side of the crease four seconds after Winnipeg’s sixth man advantage expired.
The Sharks led 1-0 after the first and it was tied 1-1 heading into the third.
San Jose benefited from a Rittich bobble to score first.
After the puck bounced off the netminder onto the ice in front of him, he tried to smother it with his glove but it slid away. Lorentz quickly put it into the net with a backhand at 14:13 for his seventh goal of the season.
The Jets outshot the visitors 14-7 in the opening period.
San Jose went on the power play early in the second, but it was Reimer who made a key save to avoid giving up a short-handed goal.
Jets forward Morgan Barron had a breakaway and fired a shot at Reimer, who stretched over and whipped out his glove to snag the puck.
Niederrieter tied it 1-1 when he spun around in the high slot and the puck flew by Reimer on the glove side at 6:05.
The Jets went on their fourth power play of the game with 1:39 left in the second, but Reimer foiled two quick shots as the buzzer sounded to end the period.
Reimer had stopped 27 shots after 40 minutes. Rittich made 13 saves in the same span.
Winnipeg came up empty on its fifth power play of the game early in the third.
Schmidt recorded his sixth goal of the season after Ehlers sent him the puck from behind the net at 14:53.
EL NINO SIZZLING
Niederreiter, playing his fourth game with Winnipeg since being acquired from the Nashville Predators on Feb. 25 via trade, tallied his first goal with the Jets and 19th of the season.
The goal marked the 200th of his 792-game NHL career and extended his point streak to three games (one goal, two assists). He also hit the post early in the third.
Niederreiter is the first Swiss-born player in NHL history to score 200 goals.
UP NEXT
Jets: Host the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.
Sharks: Travel to Colorado to play the Avalanche on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2023.
