After snapping a five-game losing streak, the San Jose Sharks will look to make it two straight wins and keep pace in the playoff race when they host the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.

The Sharks are coming off a 5-4 home win against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. Their two-goal lead after the first period was narrowed to one in the middle frame and then erased early in the third. They regained the advantage a few minutes later before conceding the tying goal yet again in less than two minutes.

Defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin then delivered the tie-breaking tally just over two minutes after the equalizer to snap San Jose’s skid (0-4-1). That pulled the team within five points of the second wild card in the Western Conference held by the Seattle Kraken, who beat the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.

“I thought we did some really good things,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Like our first (period). Did some good things in the second. Obviously, (the Oilers are) a good team, and they’re going to push, and they did that in the third period of the game. Obviously, (it) opened up a little bit too much of our liking, but we found a way to win a hockey game.”

The rebuilding Sharks have been a surprise team in the playoff mix, hovering in and out of a postseason spot. Though the future is expected to be bright for the Northern California squad, led by young star Macklin Celebrini, it wasn’t expected to be in playoff contention just yet.

“I learned a lot while I was (with Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games) over there just being around our coaches, some of the best coaches in the league, and some of the best players in the world,” Celebrini said. “Just their mentality, some of the things that they preach. … the message around our locker room over there, I think I can bring some of that back and just know what it takes.”

Unlike San Jose, Winnipeg was expected to be among the postseason participants after a Presidents’ Trophy-winning campaign last season.

Instead, the Jets find themselves 10 points out of a playoff spot, in 12th place in the Western Conference and 27th in the NHL overall.

Their most recent outing was yet another disappointment in a season full of them, falling 5-4 in overtime to the host Anaheim Ducks on Friday. The Jets held a 2-0 lead early in the second period and a 3-1 advantage early in the third before Anaheim scored three unanswered to pull ahead.

Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor scored late to tie it at 4-4, but Anaheim’s Chris Kreider notched the winner with 13 seconds remaining in overtime.

“We had the two-goal lead twice and gave that up,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “But at the end of the day, we had some leads that we should have found a way to bring home. I mean, we stuck with it, and obviously the 6-on-5 goal was big at the end. We got a point out of it.”

The Jets know they’ll have to be better against the Sharks.

“It’s a young team that’s going to try and push the pace,” Arniel said. “We have to be smart in how we approach them.”

–Field Level Media

The Utah Mammoth, winners of three of their last four games, are battling to remain in a playoff position as they prepare to host the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon.

The Mammoth, in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, defeated the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Friday in Salt Lake City as Lawson Crouse scored two goals and Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists.

“I think we’re obviously a really fast team and can make a lot of plays, but I think that’s the biggest thing for us is sticking to our identity as much as we can,” Keller said.

“It’s hard to do, and I think we’ve got better as the year’s gone on, and the good teams are the most consistent. Even when you don’t feel your best, you find a way. I think we’re showing steps in the right direction, and we’ve got to be more consistent.”

Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton also scored while Jack McBain, Nick Schmaltz and defenseman Mikhail Sergechev each had two assists.

“They’re hungry, they want to go at it and they stay on top of their opponent,” Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said of the top line of Crouse, Keller and Schmaltz. “You saw today, the goal of (Keller) is a turnover caused by a lot of pressure on one of the best defensemen in the world (the Wild’s Quinn Hughes). That shows how good they can be when they have that aggression.”

Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves for Utah to win three of his last four outings. Vejmelka is 28-15-2 with a 2.60 goals-against average and .902 save percentage.

“They’re a great hockey team,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. “They skate really well. They’re really skilled.”

The Blackhawks lost their third straight game on Saturday night, a 3-1 decision to the host Colorado Avalanche.

Chicago has lost eight of its last nine games (1-6-2).

“We need more depth scoring, for sure. We were close to having a lot of chances, and we just didn’t handle the puck great,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said after the game. “Like we could have had probably three or four 3-on-1s, and we just kind of mishandled them.

“So I thought there was opportunities for offense there that we just weren’t able to take advantage of.”

Connor Bedard scored Chicago’s lone goal to give him 25 for the season. He also has 30 assists for 55 points in 46 games.

Seven points (five goals and two assists) have come in Bedard’s last seven games.

“We got to help him, obviously. I mean, it can’t just be on Connor,” Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno said. “He’s doing his job. He’s getting scoring chances. He’s making plays.

“I mean, he could’ve had five tonight. So it’s on the rest of us to pick it up and find a way to help him out, give him some run support, and that’s just only going to make our team better, right? I think we got to figure out how to get more than one goal here and make it count.”

Spencer Knight stopped 32 shots for Chicago in taking his third consecutive loss. He is 16-18-7 with a 2.62 GAA and .908 save percentage.

–Field Level Media

The Atlanta Hawks will try to get to the .500 mark for the first time since December when they complete a five-game homestand by hosting the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.

Atlanta has won three straight games, including a pair of wire-to-wire victories over woeful Washington. The Hawks haven’t had a .500 record since Dec. 21 when they were 15-15. Since then, they’ve been within a game of break-even three times and failed to win.

Portland is coming off a 109-93 loss to Charlotte on Saturday afternoon. The Blazers are 1-1 on their five-game road trip and 6-4 over their past 10 games.

Atlanta and Portland are in similar places as far as the playoffs, with both fighting to avoid participating in the play-in tournament. The Hawks are tied with Charlotte for ninth in the Eastern Conference, two games behind No. 8 Miami. The Trail Blazers are No. 9 in the Western Conference, 2 1/2 games behind No. 8 Golden State.

“It’s not out of the question,” Atlanta’s Corey Kispert said. “We play these games for a reason. We’re going to let it rip, no matter who’s on the other side.”

The Hawks played without their two leading scorers on Thursday against Washington — Jalen Johnson (left hip flexor) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (sprained ankle). Both are listed as questionable for Sunday.

But the team’s new faces came out strong in the 126-96 win over the Wizards on Thursday. Kispert scored a career-high 33 points. CJ McCollum scored 25 and is averaging 18.6 points per game since Atlanta acquired him and Kispert in a trade with Washington. Jonathan Kuminga, who has played only two games since returning from a knee bruise, produced 27 and 17 points.

“It feels like even since I’ve been here we’ve kind of had a new team every couple of days,” Kispert said. “And now, with the roster set, we’re finally ready to go. We’re putting the pedal to the metal. We’re going to win some games. This is a really good group of guys, guys that want to win and play the right way.”

Portland’s Scoot Henderson, who grew up in the north Atlanta suburbs, has played nine games since missing the first 51 games with an left hamstring injury. He got his first start on Thursday and scored 12 points in a win over the Chicago Bulls. He has impressed coach Tiago Splitter since his return.

“He’s playing freely. I don’t think he’s second-guessing anything,” Splitter said. “He is playing great on defense, great on offense right now, pushing the pace, finding teammates. We expect more from him, as far as being young and still developing, but he’s done a great job after the injury.”

Portland’s Donovan Clingan returned to the lineup on Saturday after missing a game with an illness. The center is No. 3 in the league at 11.5 rebounds per game and has averaged 12.8 over the last five games. In that stretch, he had 18 in a win against Utah on Feb. 12.

Deni Avdija, who averages a team-leading 24.4 points per game, has missed the last three games because of injury management for his lower back. Shaedon Sharpe (21.4 points) has missed the last nine games and will miss four to six more weeks with a stress reaction of the left fibula.

The Trail Blazers have won the past three meetings against Atlanta, including a 117-101 decision on Jan. 15 in Portland.

–Field Level Media