Postgame Hat Trick: Jets 2, Wild 0

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 2-0 loss against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg on Tuesday night:

1. First time for everything
The Wild entered the All-Star break as the third-highest scoring team in the National Hockey League. In its final game before the layoff, it shutout an opponent for the first time this season.
On Tuesday night, those roles were completely reversed.
For the first time in 2021-22, the Wild did not find the back of the net in a game, watching its 10-game point streak snapped as a result.
"We tried to catch it and correct it in between periods. And the players were trying to do it during the game as well. And we just, we didn't get to our game. I don't think we got to it at all," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "We didn't get to the net like we should have. There was a pile of rebounds there.
"We didn't do a good enough job of having more will to get to that area for us, that we normally do."

In addition to its team streak, Kevin Fiala and Kirill Kaprizov also saw lengthy point streaks of their own ended. For Fiala, he was one game shy of establishing a new franchise record all by his lonesome. Instead, he'll share the club record (12 games) with the man he was traded for once upon a time, Mikael Granlund.
Kaprizov's streak was officially at seven games, but that was only because he missed one game because of an injury. The All-Star forward had tallied a point or more in 12 consecutive contests he had skated in.
2. Old school
There was a question entering the season just how much animosity would still exist between these two neighbors having so much time between games. That question was answered in a hurry, as the Wild came roaring back late in an intense game to win 6-5 in its home opener back in October.
Things got really dicey in the rematch back in St. Paul on Black Friday, a game the Wild absolutely boat-raced the Jets by a 7-1 margin.
With a couple months to cool off, would these two teams have a little more time for each other? Of course not.
The game wasn't even halfway through the first period when Brenden Dillon hit Marcus Foligno with an open-ice hit that looked like it could have been called interference.
Jordan Greenway took exception, and dropped the mitts with Dillon. Foligno wasn't much happier and took off to exact some revenge, only to be horsecollar tackled by Jets forward Adam Lowry.
That crossed Foligno's wires, and all of the sudden, we had two fights going at once, with Greenway squared up with Dillon and Foligno with Lowry.
"We lost our composure, but rightfully so. If you watch the hit, he releases the puck, he takes three strides and then gets blindsided," Evason said. "If you're a hockey player, you're not expecting to get hammered from the backside like that. I mean, that's the hit that we don't want in the game, blind, has no idea it's coming, extremely late. That's not a hockey hit.
"If Marcus Foligno isn't as big and strong as he is, that player's probably hurt really bad. We didn't like it at all. We lost our composure a little bit. Little bit. Moose was rightfully so frustrated and that's why that second altercation probably happened at the end."
Somehow, the Jets came out of the fracas with a power play ... as officials deemed Greenway's objection to the initial hit worth an extra two minutes for roughing. It was a sequence that very easily could have seen the Wild come out with a power play, or at the very least, even strength.
But the Jets took advantage of the break, as Mark Scheifele got just enough of a whiffed, fluttering one-timer to get the puck airborne and off the right shoulder of Kaapo Kahkonen and in for a 1-0 lead.

"I just know he got hit pretty hard. If that was the other way around and somebody else on our team, I know Moose would be the first one to step up," Greenway said. "It was my turn. That's what we do. We've got to stick up for our guys, whether it's Marcus or whoever the case is.
"If they want to play a physical game, obviously we can. They found a way to do it a little bit better tonight."
Foligno and Lowry would go again in the third period and that dynamic could be one to watch when the Wild ventures north of the border again next week.
"Just trying to stick up for my teammates and try to finish an opponent. That's it," Foligno said. "Just getting ticked off with just some things that those guys do from time to time, but just heat of the battle."
3. Not this time
The Wild has made a habit of staging late-game rallies, specifically with the extra attacker. Minnesota's 12 6-on-5 goals this season are by far the most in the NHL.
Sure enough, with the game at 1-0 late, thanks to some tremendous work in goal by Kahkonen, Minnesota had a chance to stage yet another miracle finish.
It wasn't meant to be.
As it did all game long, the Jets made life difficult for the high-scoring Wild, getting into shooting lanes, blocking shots, pursuing the puck aggressively and allowing little in the way of time and space.

"I think it was our fault. I think we did a lot of stuff where we didn't shoot pucks. We didn't go to the net. There were pucks that laid in the crease and they were the first ones there to get them," Foligno said. "We were just off. It just looked a little bit off tonight. Don't want to say you're just trying to get the rhythm back, the conditioning back. We were just off."
Yes, it was a physical matchup. It was the first game back from a nearly week-long layoff. And after two games earlier this season where it featured 6-5 and 7-1 finals -- both victories -- the Wild expected the Jets to be a little more attentive in the defensive end of the ice.
"They played a good game defensively. We didn't get enough pucks to the net. We didn't get to the net enough," Greenway said. "We didn't make it hard for them to keep us to zero goals. We've got to figure out what we got to do to get back to doing what we did to have success."

Loose pucks

• The shutout loss marks the first time the Wild has been blanked at Winnipeg
• Kahkonen finished with 27 saves on 28 shots
• Nate Schmidt scored an empty-net goal for the Jets with 1:11 remaining in regulation
• Kyle Connor finished with two assists
• Dillon and Blake Wheeler also had assists
• Winnipeg went 35-14 in the faceoff circle
• Hellebuyck stopped all 27 shots he faced for this third shutout

Dan's three stars

1. Connor Hellebuyck
   2. Kaapo Kahkonen
   3. Mark Scheifele

Highlights