It wasn’t pretty, but the Winnipeg Jets continued their winning ways in Minnesota.
Kyle Connor scored the overtime winner as the Jets edged the Wild 4-3 Tuesday night for their ninth win in a row over Minnesota and their fifth straight in St. Paul.
After getting out to a two-goal lead in the first period, the Jets surrendered three straight goals, but they tied the game with eight minutes left before winning it just 46 seconds into the extra frame.
“We stayed in the game,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “Absolutely loved the way we came out in the first, second, we got loose again. They do a really good job of getting bodies around the net-front and they throw a lot of pucks there.
“Nino (Niederreiter) or Gus (Nyquist), whoever got that one – that was a big goal obviously in a divisional game that’s tight in this building. You know, got us back going again and KC (Connor) does what he does.”
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Niederreiter was credited with the tying goal. Gabriel Vilardi and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored in the win, while Logan Stanley and Neal Pionk each had two assists.
The Jets have yet to lose back-to-back games this season and are now 3-0 following a defeat.
All three of the Wild goals were of the strange variety. The Wild opened the scoring on a goal that was initially waved off. Connor Hellebuyck kicked the puck into his own net for the Wild’s second marker and then Luke Schenn kneed in the go-ahead goal.
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Minnesota has just one win in their last eight games.
Arniel was left frustrated with his team’s inconsistent play in Sunday’s loss, pointing to their poor second periods and they certainly weren’t any better in the middle frame again versus the Wild getting outshot 13-5.
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“We got to find a way to play 60 minutes of hockey,” said Niederreiter. “There’s times we showed what we’re capable of doing and there’s times where we’re trying to be too cute, have too many turnovers and let teams get back in.
“We’re a veteran group. We know exactly what we’re supposed to do and what we have to do to wear teams down. And I think it’s something which we just got to find a way, knowing that if we play the right way, we don’t have to always make it so hard on ourselves.”
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In 10 games this season the Jets have given up 12 goals in the second stanza but they’re the only team in the NHL yet to lose on the road. now 4-0 away from home.
“It’s a resilient group here,” said Connor. “We’ve shown parts of, I think every game this season, of what this team can be. And we stuck with it, and we just found a way to win.”
The Wild had the puck in the Jets’ end a lot in the opening period, but it was Winnipeg who emerged with a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
After a chaotic sequence in their own end, Winnipeg brought the puck up the ice and into the Minnesota zone. The puck cycled back to the point where Stanley sent a shot towards the net. In a mass of bodies, Vilardi tracked down the rebound and batted the puck into the net for his second of the season at the 12:16 mark.
Just 22 seconds later, the Jets doubled down. Pionk sent a shot from the point intentionally wide that Namestnikov got a stick on to redirect it through Filip Gustavsson to make it 2-0.
Minnesota outshot the Jets 16-9 in the first and continued to outshoot Winnipeg in the second as they pushed to get even.
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Just over six minutes into the period, the Wild got on the board. Jared Spurgeon got a shot on goal, leading to a wild scene in the crease where almost every player on the ice surrounded the net, and eventually Kirill Kaprizov banged home a loose puck to make it 2-1.
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Minnesota should have tied the game around the 11-minute mark. Vladimir Tarasenko took a shot from the slot that was stopped by Hellebuyck, but the rebound trickled to the side of the net. Joel Eriksson Ek had a wide open net but couldn’t tuck the puck in, jamming it into the post before sliding it through the crease.
But the Wild got even anyway at the 13:12 mark. Pionk blew a tire in his own end, gifting the puck to Minnesota and creating an odd-man situation. It led to a one-timer off the stick of Brock Faber going high over the net, ricocheting off the boards back in front and careening off the pad of an unsuspecting Hellebuyck into the goal for a strange equalizer.
Minnesota outshot the Jets 13-5 in the second and had a 29-15 edge in shots through 40 minutes.
Early in the third, Minnesota’s lethal power play cashed in to give them their first lead. Hellebuyck stopped an initial point shot from Faber but on the ensuing net-front scramble, the puck bounced off the knee of Schenn and into the net. Marcus Johansson got credit for the marker.
But the Jets fought back and leveled the score at the 11:35 mark. Nyquist carried the puck into the Wild end and tried to centre a pass to Morgan Barron but it bounced off a skate and back to him. He drove the net and attempted to get a shot through, which was blocked, but a third try went off Niederreiter and into the net to tie the game.
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The score stayed level through regulation before the Jets got the job done at 3-on-3.
After the Wild began the overtime session with possession, the Jets got the puck. Josh Morrissey carried it up the ice and into the Minnesota end before passing to the wing to Mark Scheifele. He waited for Connor to drift into the slot where he received a pass and whipped it low to Gustavsson’s blocker-side to end the contest.
Hellebuyck made 33 saves as the Jets improved to 7-3 on the season.
Jonathan Toews will play his ex-team for the first time on Thursday when the Jets host the Chicago Blackhawks.
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