SAN JOSE, Calif. -- It took 11 tries, but the Winnipeg Jets have their first three-game winning streak of the season.

Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien's shot deflected off the stick of Sharks defenseman Brent Burns and into the net with just 9.9 seconds left to give the visitors a 5-4 win over San Jose at SAP Center on Thursday.

"It's good to battle back from being down 3-1, but to be honest, there's less intensity in these games and I'm not going to get excited about winning three in a row," Jets coach Paul Maurice said.

The loss means San Jose will finish no higher than third place in the Pacific Division, and will open the Stanley Cup playoffs next week at either Los Angeles or Anaheim.

"Disappointing is certainly the word," Sharks forward Tommy Wingels said. "There are a lot of issues of how we played that we're not happy about."

Byfuglien's 19th goal of the season slipped past San Jose goalie Martin Jones.

"It was one of those games," Byfuglien said. "They're a quick team to the forecheck. It's one of the faster games we've had to play this year."

Patrick Marleau gave the Sharks a 4-3 lead at 7:03 of the third period when his shot first struck the stick of Byfuglien, then off the backside of Jets forward Mark Scheifele and over the shoulder of goalie Ondrej Pavelec.

It marked the 11th time in Marleau's career he reached the 25-goal plateau.

But Winnipeg struck back on the power play following a kneeing call on Sharks defenseman Paul Martin. Scheifele scored his second of the game and 29th of the season at 12:02.

"We kept playing with fire," Pavelski said.

Wingels was more specific in terms of what needs work.

"How to win at home, that's certainly a concern for us," Wingels started. "We didn't play with a playoff-type mentality. You can't get into a rush game in the playoffs. You can't turn pucks over in the neutral zone, you can't turn pucks over coming out of your zone. And that's what we did numerous times.

"And certainly our penalty kill can use some work, too," he added.

Winnipeg scored on consecutive shots in a span of 1:02 late in the second period to rebound from a 3-1 deficit and send the game into the third period tied.

San Jose built its two-goal edge earlier in the period on the strength of two power plays.

Joe Thornton scored his 19th goal of the season by one-timing a goal-mouth feed from Marleau past Pavelec at 11:42, only 37 seconds after Byfuglien went off for holding.

Following a slash by Winnipeg defenseman Mark Stuart, the Sharks made it 2-for-2 when Martin scored his third goal of the season at 15:34.

"It was back and forth with a lot of offense," Scheifele said.

Byfuglien skated around Thornton and set up Andrew Copp for his sixth goal at 17:59 and Blake Wheeler cut inside Marleau and beat Jones with a forehand shot in close at 19:01 to make it 3-3.

"I appreciate the leadership on the team and the effort," Maurice said. "We're out of the playoffs and we have a lot of young guys who go out and play hard."

The Sharks scored the only goal of a first period that featured each team registering six shots on goal.

San Jose burst through at even strength just past the midway point with its top line cashing in on an extended cycle deep in the Winnipeg end. Winger Tomas Hertl walked out of the corner, threw a puck toward the net that Thornton fished out in the crease and spotted Pavelski unmarked on the weak side for his 37th goal.

NOTES: C Chris Tierney returned to the San Jose lineup after missing one game due to an undisclosed injury. Tierney was on the fourth line, and C Dainius Zubrus was the team's lone healthy scratch. ... Providence College product LW Brandon Tanev made his second consecutive appearance for Winnipeg, joining C Bryan Little and RW Chris Thorburn on the third line. ... San Jose D Marc-Edouard Vlasic (knee) and LW Matt Nieto (broken knuckle) each missed his 11th consecutive game Thursday. Both are doubtful for Saturday's regular-season finale against Arizona. Vlasic, however, is expected back in time for the start of the playoffs next week. ... Jets coach Paul Maurice announced G Michael Hutchinson will start his team's final regular-season game on Saturday in Los Angeles. ... RW Matt Halischuk and D Brenden Kichton were Winnipeg's healthy scratches.