Minnesota Wild: Wild can’t complete comeback, falls 5-4 to Jets

The Minnesota Wild were unable to overcome a 5-1 deficit on Sunday night as they fell to the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 5-4. With the loss, the Wild now sit at 5-2-1 for the season, which is good for fifth in the Central Division.

Minnesota opened the game brilliantly as Jason Zucker snapped the puck past Jets goalie Michael Hutchinson a mere ten seconds into the game. Zucker’s goal is the quickest goal scored in Wild history.

However, the Jets responded with five straight goals. Bryan Little, Andrew Ladd, and Nikolaj Ehlers each recorded goals in the first period for Winnipeg as Darcy Kuemper started at goalie in place of Devan Dubnyk. After Drew Stafford of Winnipeg scored the Jets’ fourth goal with over 19 minutes remaining in the second period, Kuemper was pulled for Dubnyk. The plan, although it didn’t hold up, was to let Dubnyk rest the knee he tweaked on Saturday night.

Stafford would score again just shortly after Dubnyk entered the game as he squeezed through a couple of Wild defenders. With over 15 minutes remaining in the second period, the Wild trailed 5-1.

Minnesota was able to record two goals before the end of the third period. Mikko Koivu was able to take advantage of a power play opportunity from a nice feed by Mikael Granlund. Then, a mere 38 seconds of game action later, Justin Fontaine scored his first goal of the season off a rebound from a Thomas Vanek shot. The Wild had momentum entering the final period, trailing 5-3.

Despite outplaying the Jets the entire period and out-shooting the Jets on goal 12-6 in the third period, the Wild were unable to complete the comeback. Zach Parise notched a fancy all-world wrap-around goal with 10:41 left in the game (that included a bit of luck as well), but that would conclude the scoring for the evening.

One key aspect of the game where the Wild could’ve faired better is in the power play. While the Wild were able to score once on the power play, they also missed out on four additional power play opportunities throughout the game.

For the game, the shots on goal wound up pretty evenly split between the two squads, with the Jets owning a small 33-30 edge.

Minnesota’s next action will be this Tuesday night when they host the Edmonton Oilers at Xcel Energy Center.

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