Takeaways: Wild extend winning streak to 5 with 3-0 victory over Jets

Not even the pesky Winnipeg Jets were a match for the resurgent Minnesota Wild.

After losing nine in a row to the Central Division rival Jets, including four straight in Winnipeg, the Wild finally prevailed 3-0 Sunday at Canada Life Centre to extend their season-high winning streak to five games.

Jesper Wallstedt made 32 saves for his NHL-leading third shutout in his past four starts.

“Let’s keep the streak going,” Wallstedt, speaking to reporters in Winnipeg, said he told fellow goalie Filip Gustavsson, who blanked the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0 on Friday.

Danila Yurov scored his third goal of the season, Brock Faber netted the first short-handed goal of his career, and Kirill Kaprizov added an exclamation point against a Jets lineup missing goalie Connor Hellebuyck, the reigning NHL MVP who is out because of a knee injury.

Since the Wild finished October on a season-worst five-game losing streak, they are a league-best 9-1-1 in November.

They have scored first in a franchise-record 12 consecutive games, which is tied for the 10th-longest run in NHL history, and the Wild haven’t trailed for the last eight games — a stretch of 480 minutes.

Wallstedt and Gustavsson joined Manny Fernandez and Dwayne Roloson (Feb. 10 and 12, 2003) as the only goaltending duo to post shutouts in consecutive Wild games.

The Wild’s five total shutouts this season are tops in the NHL.

“We’ve gotten excellent goaltending,” coach John Hynes said. “Both guys have deserved the shutout. But from a defensive standpoint, we’re committed in that area. So, I think strong defensive play combined with excellent goaltending is a good recipe.”

How it happened

Winnipeg was in charge early, jumping out to a 6-0 advantage in shots, but the Wild settled down as the first period progressed and dictated more in the second.

“We play not our game first 10 minutes, and Wally did a couple great saves,” Kaprizov said. “We just play a little bit slower and don’t win battles first maybe seven, 10 minutes. But from second period, we started to play better.”

Take their first goal, with the Wild effectively getting up ice and hemming the Jets in their zone after they steered a Marcus Foligno rebound to the boards. There, Yakov Trenin forced a turnover by former Wild forward Nino Niederreiter before setting up Yurov at 8:23.

Seconds earlier, the Wild weathered a close call for Winnipeg that saw Jonas Brodin swipe the puck out of the crease.

Turning point

Jets captain Adam Lowry fought Foligno soon after Yurov’s goal, but momentum stayed with the Wild.

Zach Bogosian, in only his second game back from a lower-body injury caused by a shot block, got in front of a Josh Morrissey wind-up — one of 18 blocks by the Wild.

Then after the Wild’s only power play was cut short by a holding penalty against Kaprizov, Faber joined a short-handed rush, accepted a Marcus Johansson pass and buried a 3-on-2 shot with 1:48 left in the second. Winnipeg finished 0 for 4 on the power play.

“That’s a little bit more the mentality we want to have on the penalty kill [with] our puck pressure and getting teams on the run and forcing them to make some mistakes,” Hynes said.

Since Oct. 26, Faber’s five goals are tied for second in the NHL among defensemen.

“I was screaming just about as loud as I could,” said Faber, who is the youngest defenseman in team history with a short-handed goal and first defender to score one since Carson Soucy on Dec. 14, 2019. “Jojo’s obviously such a gifted passer. There was no doubt in my mind that he wasn’t going to pass that thing back.”

In the third period, Kaprizov got behind the Jets to lift his 13th goal at 6:29 over goalie Eric Comrie (27 saves) and match Matt Boldy for the team lead. Kaprizov is up to 10 points during a five-game point streak.

Key stat

The eight-game point streak (7-0-1) is the Wild’s longest since they went 6-0-2 during the 2022-23 season.

What it means

This result was a long time coming for the Wild.

Their performance against their top competition in the Central Division has been an eyesore in recent seasons, particularly this matchup vs. the Jets. The Wild came close to a win in the first game, a 4-3 loss Oct. 28, but they were unequivocally the better team in the rematch to secure their first victory against Winnipeg since March 8, 2023.

They didn’t panic while the Jets pressured early.

Instead, they looked poised in their response and were methodical the rest of the way with timely goals and stops.

“We came out in the second, [and] our battle level, our competitiveness, was better,” Hynes said. “We played more of a direct game, and I thought we were able to get to the game that was going to give us the best chance to win.”

Joining this groove was Nico Sturm.

Sturm, a two-time Stanley Cup champ who signed as a free agent in the summer, made his season debut after the center was sidelined the first 22 games with a back injury. This is Sturm’s second stint with the Wild after he broke into the league with them in 2019.

The Wild are still without injured forwards Ryan Hartman, Vinnie Hinostroza, Marco Rossi and Vladimir Tarasenko, but their play all over the ice remains sharp.

Wallstedt’s 6-0-2 start is the best in Wild history, and the 23-year-old is the youngest Wild netminder to go on a five-game winning streak.

He’s also the fourth youngest in NHL history to have a season-opening point streak of at least eight games and just the 10th rookie to accomplish the feat.

“He’s playing like a wall right now,” Faber said. “It’s fun to watch. It gives us all confidence.”

In 13 career games, Wallstedt has four shutouts and is only the second rookie goaltender in the league’s expansion era to record three through his first eight games of a season.

Oh, and Wallstedt’s .935 save percentage and 1.94 goals-against average are first in the NHL.

“That I have a great team in front of me,” he said when asked what the key to his success is. “The way our team [has] sacrificed themselves, I feel like we’re one of the teams that blocks the most shots. We try to get in front of every puck. They take away sticks and everything and boxing out so I can focus on doing my job.”

Up next

The Wild are staying in the Central Division to open their season series against the upstart Blackhawks on Wednesday in Chicago.

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