There’s something about Central Division games that brings out the best in the Winnipeg Jets.
After a lacklustre showing in Calgary on Monday night, the Jets bounced back with a 6-3 win over the Minnesota Wild Tuesday for their fourth win in their last five outings, improving to 13-3-1 against divisional opponents this season.
The Jets scored the first three goals of the game before getting badly outshot 17-6 in the middle frame, but regained their footing in the third period to hang on for the victory.
“We had a really good first,” said head coach Rick Bowness. “That’s all self-inflicted in Minnesota. You saw plays at the blueline that we don’t normally make and we’re making changes and they’re getting breakaways.
“The second period was just really, it was sloppy. It was just bad puck management, but again, give the guys credit because they responded in the third and started to play, but our overall 5-on-5 game – it was so good in Vancouver, right, for 60 minutes. We’ll get it back.”
It was the Jets fourth straight win over Minny going back to last season and it ended the Wild’s six-game point streak.
Gabriel Vilardi had two goals and an assist to give him eight points over his last three games. Mason Appleton, Kyle Connor, Sean Monahan and Nino Niederreiter also scored goals for Winnipeg in the win.
Marco Rossi had a pair in the loss for the Wild and at even strength the Jets still aren’t firing on all cylinders.
“We weren’t great 5-on-5,” said Vilardi. “Especially our line. We struggled a bit 5-on-5 tonight. But, yeah, I think we were cleaner as a group. I thought our third line was really, really good tonight.”
The Jets scored two more power play goals, and after recently ending an 0-for-21 dry spell, their power play has now clicked four out of seven times over the last two contests.
“We got a lot of ground to make up,” Bowness said. “It’s nice to see. You can see the confidence growing with them. The puck’s moving. They’re making great plays and the puck is going in the net, so, we’ve waited a long time.”
The Jets made a pair of lineup changes after Monday’s loss to the Flames. Logan Stanley and Rasmus Kupari returned to the lineup, while Nate Schmidt and Morgan Barron had the night off as healthy scratches.
“Those are tough calls,” said Bowness. “Logan Stanley has played well enough to get back in there. We’re not going to let him sit for weeks like we did before.”
In his first game against his former team, Minnesota’s Declan Chisholm took a hooking penalty 7:32 into the game, giving Winnipeg’s suddenly scorching power play its first chance of the night and they took advantage.
After taking a while to get set up, the Jets eventually cycled the puck around the Minnesota zone before Connor’s slap-pass banked off Vilardi’s skate and into the net.
It was Winnipeg’s fifth power play goal in their last eight chances and before the goal could be announced over the PA system, the Jets doubled their lead.
Adam Lowry had the puck behind Minnesota’s net and found Appleton at the faceoff dot. He wired one that found its way past Marc-Andre Fleury to make it 2-0 only 14 seconds after Vilardi’s goal.
The Jets actually trailed 11-8 on the shot clock through 20 minutes, but early in the second they extended their lead where it mattered to 3-0.
Vilardi carried the puck into the Wild end in transition before sliding the puck to the slot where Connor received the pass. He beat Fleury through a partial screen for his 20th of the season just 1:54 into the second.
It stayed 3-0 for a while before Minnesota cracked the code with 5:50 left in the middle frame. Rossi beat Laurent Brossoit with four seconds left on a Vilardi penalty, which he took after Winnipeg had multiple good chances to make it a 4-0 game.
Rossi nearly made it a one-goal game when he was sprung on a breakaway as the Jets blueliners went off for a change, but Brossoit turned it aside, one of 16 saves he made in the period.
Winnipeg’s power play scored the backbreaker just shy of the midway point of the third period when Vilardi tipped a Josh Morrissey point shot past Fleury for his second of the night, making it 4-1 but the Jets weren’t done there.
Monahan, fresh off scoring a hat trick the previous afternoon, tipped in a point shot just 58 seconds after Vilardi did for his first goal at home as a member of the Jets.
The Wild cut back into the lead with their second power play goal of the night when Kirill Kaprizov scored his 24th of the season with 7:27 left in the third.
Things started to tense up less than two minutes later when Rossi tipped a point shot past Brossoit for his second of the game, making it 5-3 with 5:48 remaining.
The Wild pulled Fleury for an extra attacker with over three minutes left but it didn’t take long for Niederreiter to score into the empty net, restoring Winnipeg’s three-goal lead.
Vilardi and Connor each finished the game with three points while Brossoit turned aside 36 shots for the win.
Winnipeg returns to the ice Friday in Chicago.