Sharks' rookies Eklund, Weatherby lead comeback victory over Jets
Winnipeg's Scheifele returns after serving final game of playoff suspension
Jasper Weatherby scored the tying goal in his NHL debut and William Eklund set up the go-ahead score in his first career game to lead the San Jose Sharks to a season-opening 4-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.
Andrew Cogliano, Tomas Hertl and Rudolfs Balcers also scored to the delight of the first big crowd in San Jose since the pandemic shut down the NHL in March 2020.
Adin Hill made 20 saves in his San Jose debut to earn the win.
Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves but allowed a pair of power-play goals for the second straight game.
The Sharks broke open the game with two goals early in an eventful third period. With Dubois off for elbowing, the 19-year-old Eklund fired a shot on net that Hellebuyck stopped, but Hertl was there to knock in the rebound.
Less than two minutes later, Balcers knocked in a rebound of a shot by Timo Meier just before colliding with Hellebuyck in the crease, setting off a wild scrum between the teams.
The teams traded short-handed goals early in the second period with Copp taking advantage of miscommunication between Hill and Erik Karlsson to give Winnipeg a 2-0 lead, and Cogliano answering for San Jose.
WATCH | Winnipeg drops 2nd straight game:
The Sharks then tied it late in the period when Weatherby beat Hellebuyck from the circle on the power play to become the first Sharks player to score in his NHL debut since Meier did it in Montreal on Dec. 16, 2016.
Weatherby and Eklund were two of five rookies to play for the Sharks.
Eklund, the seventh pick in this year's draft who turned 19 on Tuesday, is the fifth-youngest Sharks player ever. He and Jonathan Dahlen played wing on the top two lines, while Weatherby centered the fourth line, all in their debuts.
WATCH | Burning questions for every Canadian NHL team:
This marked the first time two Sharks got points in their debuts since Marco Sturm and Alexander Korolyuk did it on Oct. 4, 1997, against Chicago.
Lane Pederson also played on the fourth line and Jake Middleton was in on defence as rookies but both have NHL experience.
Jets centre Mark Scheifele returned after missing the opener to serve the final game of a four-game suspension he received in the playoffs last season for his hit on Montreal's Jake Evans.
