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 Much to Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice's chagrin, his team took
its foot off the accelerator Sunday evening after building a 5-1
lead, but held on for a tense 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Wild.
By the halfway mark of the second period, it looked as if the Jets
(5-2-1) were going to cruise to an easy two points, with the Wild
(5-2-1) playing their third game in four nights.
But center Alexander Burmistrov was sent off for elbowing -- a
dreaded offensive zone penalty, the Jets second such infraction of
the game -- and Wild captain Mikko Koivu snapped a shot over
Winnipeg goalie Michael Hutchinson's right shoulder at 14:17 of the
second period and the comeback was on.
"We took a penalty that we can't take at 5-1," Maurice said.
The following shift, rookie Nikolaj Ehlers, who earlier gave the
Jets a 3-1 lead with his third goal of the season, turned the puck
over at center ice and 38 seconds later, Wild right winger Jason
Fontaine batted it out of mid-air to make it 5-3.
The Wild pulled within a goal midway through the third period when
Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba was stripped of the puck behind his own
net by Wild left winger Zach Parise, who banked his seventh of the
season in off Hutchinson while falling down behind the goal line at
10: 41.
The Jets withstood a furious barrage from the Wild for the last 10
minutes of the game.
The Wild opened the scoring 10 second in when left winger Jason
Zucker undressed Trouba off the opening face-off and ripped a shot
past Hutchinson.
Center Bryan Little responded 72 second later, tipping home his
fourth of the season past Wild netminder Darcy Kuemper to make it
1-1. The Jets No. 1 line stuck again just over two minutes later
when left winger Andrew Ladd scored his second of the season at 3:28
for a 2-1 lead.
Ehlers gave the home side a 3-1 lead when he used center Mark
Scheifele as a decoy on a two-on-one at 12:12 to score his third of
the season.
Right winger Drew Stafford chased Kuemper from the game when he
snapped home his fourth of the season from the top of the circle
just 51 seconds into the second period.
Stafford increased the lead to 5-1 with his second goal with some
nifty stickhandling in the deep slot at 4:44.
"Stafford has been outstanding all year," Maurice said. "He's found
what will make a player very valuable -- a guy who has the ability
to put pucks in the net and play in a (shut-down role). He hasn't
cheated anything."
Stafford said he thought the Jets did a good job of withstanding the
Wild's frenetic push.
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"When they slow the game down and take the life out of it, it's hard
as the team in the lead to keep that pace and keep your foot on the
gas, especially when the score is that high. Usually the games are
really close at this level. You're not going to see too many
blow-out games," he said.
"We let them off the hook for a little bit and they were able to
turn it around on us but at the same time, we were able to finish it
off so it's all good."
Parise wasn't about to blame the Wild's slow start -- taking the
lead after 10 seconds notwithstanding -- on fatigue.
"I don't think that was a problem, he said. "They had a really good
start. Us, not so much, but I don't think it was fatigue by any
means. It felt like they were coming at us 100 mph through the
neutral zone and we were flat-footed. They did a good job of jumping
their (defensemen) into the rush, too, so it just put us on our
heels."
Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk, who was pressed into action early in the
second period when Kuemper gave up his fourth goal, said it was too
bad not to get at least a point after making a comeback.
"We're just a group that does that. We stay in every single game and
we're not willing to throw games away or give up on two points. We
showed it again tonight. If we stick to game like that we have the
capability of coming back," he said.
Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien did his part to help make that a
reality in the late going by taking a boarding penalty with 2:03
remaining in regulation when he slammed Wild right winger Jason
Pominville -- who had already fallen to his knees while fighting for
the puck -- face first into the boards in the defensive zone.
NOTES: The Jets are in the middle of a six-game homestand, tied for
their second-longest of the season. ... Jets C Nic Petan was
inserted back into the line-up, replacing RW Anthony Peluso on the
fourth line. ... Other scratches for the Jets are D Adam Pardy and D
Paul Postma. ... Scratched for the Wild are G Niklas Backstrom, RW
Kurtis Gabriel and D Nate Prosser.
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