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 The Winnipeg Jets right winger fired a highlight-reel goal late
in overtime, lifting the hosts to a 2-1 triumph over the Minnesota
Wild on Tuesday night.
Defenseman Jared Spurgeon gave the puck away in the Jets end,
springing Byfuglien on a one-on-one against blueliner Ryan Suter.
The six-foot-five, 265-pound forward drove wide and ripped a snap
shot from a bad angle that found a tiny space over goalie Devan
Dubnyk's right shoulder for his 14th goal of the season with one
minute left in the five-minute, four-on-four extra period.
"Ya, it was a play that just, you know, (I) got the puck to the
neutral zone. I knew my guy was down and in a four-on-four it's a
man-on-man type of thing. I knew I was going to have room and I just
had my head up and see the shot," said Byfuglien.
Later, he said: "(Dubnyk) left it open. ... (I) took it, hit it and
the game's over."
He was asked if he thought about passing to speedy right winger
Blake Wheeler, who was streaking into the slot.
 "To Blake? Ya... no."
"We played a good team game," Byfuglien added. "That's one of our
best games in a long time. I think we should be happy with what we
did. We stuck to it all the way through."
After going winless in six straight games following the All-Star
break, the Jets (28-18-10) now have points in last four games,
including back-to-back victories to close out an impressive
three-game home stand.
"We're getting up there, we're getting close," Byfuglien said. "Not
quite there, yet. But we're on the right steps."
Defenseman Toby Enstrom gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 7:53 of the
third period with his third goal of the season, but Wild right
winger Jason Pominville notched his 11th at 10:22 to tie the game.
The Wild (26-20-7) came in riding a six-game winning streak and were
8-1-1 in their previous 10 contests.
After the game, Spurgeon was kicking himself for the ill-advised
pass on the OT goal.
"It was a horrible play by me. I saw Mikko (Koivu) there and
obviously didn't put it hard enough and (Byfuglien) read my pass,
chipped it out and made a nice shot," said Spurgeon. "I let the team
down."
Dubnyk was sensational for the visitors, stopping 32 shots. He made
15 saves in the first period alone.
He admitted the winning goal was impressive.
"(Byfuglien) has a dangerous shot. When I see him coming down, I
want to make sure I get out on him because he can tee it up, too.
When he got in tight, I thought he was going to take it to the net
and go his backhand," Dubnyk said. "I flattened out a little bit and
he kind of flicked his wrists over and made a pretty nice shot. So,
you've got to give it to him. Obviously, you always want to save
them."
Jets goalie Michael Hutchinson had a stellar outing as well, making
29 saves.
"He's always amazing," said Jets center Mark Scheifele, about the
rookie netminder. "He always battles so hard. He's such a great
goaltender, he works hard at it and you like to see a guy like that
succeed."
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Winnipeg captain Andrew Ladd said the rivalry is, indeed, building
between the two Central Division teams.
"There's lot of emotion in all these games, especially when the
points mean so much coming down the stretch," he said. "Both teams
realize how important it was and you could feel it out there."
Winnipeg was blanked on four chances with the man advantage, while
Minnesota couldn't score on three power-play opportunities.
With the game still scoreless, the clubs traded power-play chances
early in the third period without positive results. Finally, Enstrom
got the Jets on the board with a slap shot from the point that
ticked Minnesota right winger Nino Niederreiter's stick and beat
Dubnyk low to the blocker side.
The energy was sucked from the building just a few minutes later
when Winnipeg center Jim Slater had the puck knocked off his stick
and Pominville one-timed the tying goal.
Niederreiter hit the crossbar with just under three minutes left in
the third period.
The Wild head home to Minneapolis for two games against Eastern
Conference foes. The Wild host the Florida Panthers on Thursday and
the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
The Jets go on the road this with week with games against the
Nashville Predators on Thursday and the Detroit Red Wings on
Saturday.
NOTES: Very little separates the Jets and Wild, geographically and
on the ice. In 10 outings since the Atlanta franchise landed in
Winnipeg in 2011, each team has five wins. The clubs frequently
require overtime, with five of the 10 determined by OT or shootout.
... Winnipeg has three native Minnesotans on its roster: RW Blake
Wheeler (Plymouth), D Mark Stuart (Rochester) and LW Dustin
Byfuglien (Roseau). ... A trio of Wild left wingers are on injured
reserve. Matt Cooke could miss the rest of the regular season after
undergoing surgery Friday to address a sports hernia, while Jason
Zucker and Ryan Carter sustained upper-body injuries Monday against
Vancouver. Carter is expected to miss a minimum of one month with
what is believed to be shoulder ailment. Zucker is scheduled to have
surgery Thursday for a broken clavicle, and he could be out for
three months.
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