Jets defeat Wild, move up in Central Division race

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Vladislav Namestnikov had a goal and two assists for the Winnipeg Jets in a 4-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

“These are big, big games,” Namestnikov said. “Big points, much needed. Yeah, we've been talking about all year if we wanted to be successful we’ve got to have all four lines contribute and look the same, and tonight we did that.”

Alex Iafallo had a goal and an assist, and Kyle Connor and Morgan Barron also scored for Winnipeg (47-24-6), which has won three straight after a six-game losing streak. Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves.

The Jets, who have clinched a Stanley Cup Playoff berth, moved two points behind the Colorado Avalanche for second place in the Central Division.

“That’s a good hockey club over there,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “We held them to very few chances again. I know the first period they had a lot of shot attempts, but not a whole lot of … I thought we did a good job managing the puck a lot better as the game went on, going through the neutral zone and you saw a couple of shifts where we had them hemmed in their zone pretty good.

“They had us hemmed in there pretty good one play in the second, but overall it was a very good team effort.”

Kirill Kaprizov scored twice, Mats Zuccarello had two assists, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for Minnesota (36-31-9), which has lost two in a row and three of four.

“We needed more from the depth in our lineup tonight, for sure,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I mean, I thought our top two lines were going. Some of our [defensemen] were going. But I think our, the depth in the lineup wasn’t good enough tonight.”

The Wild are 11 points behind the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.

“Disappointed. That’s for sure,” Fleury said of the likelihood missing the playoffs. “I think we’ve been battling since [the] All-Star break. … We don’t have a bad record lately the last, I don’t know how many games, but we haven’t moved really in the standings. Everybody else is winning around us. Yeah. Just frustrating to be in this position.”

Namestnikov gave Winnipeg a 1-0 lead at 2:33 of the first period. Iafallo picked up the puck off a turnover by Alex Goligoski behind Minnesota's net and fed Namestnikov in front for the finish.

Kaprizov tied it 1-1 at 8:46 with a spinning backhand from between the circles off a pass from Zuccarello.

Connor put the Jets back on top 2-1 at 11:44, finishing a 2-on-1 off a pass from Sean Monahan.

Kaprizov tied it 2-2 on a power play at 15:42 after Zuccarello fed him in the right circle for a slap shot to the far side.

“We go hard every game and work hard,” Zuccarello said. “No one can take that away from us. Some games I think our skill has not been there in terms of scoring ourself and just creating. You’re working super hard, but you don't get rewarded and that's hockey sometimes. But no one can take away from this team that we go out and we try and do our best every night and work hard, but sometimes that's not enough.”

Fleury kept it tied by denying Adam Lowry on a short-handed breakaway at 17:20.

Iafallo gave the Jets a 3-2 lead at 13:39 of the second period, deflecting Brenden Dillon’s shot that got through traffic.

Barron increased the lead 4-2 at 9:46 of the third period, tipping in Dylan Samberg's point shot.

“The puck just bounced our way a little bit more tonight than it has the last few games,” Barron said. “Always fun when you can do that. I saw they changed [the third goal to be credited to Iafallo] and Alex had the goal there. Feel bad for ‘Dilly,’ but everyone on our line (with Namestnikov) gets one, so that's pretty cool."

NOTES: Monahan’s assist extended his point streak to six games (three goals, three assists). … Kaprizov extended his home point streak to 10 games (10 goals, eight assists) and became the first player in Wild history with multiple double-digit home point streaks (14 games in 2022-23). He is one goal shy of scoring 40 for the third time in his four NHL seasons (2021-22, 2022-23).