Winnipeg Jets' Nino Niederreiter (62) scores against Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) during first period NHL action in Winnipeg on Saturday, December 30, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
WINNIPEG – Nino Niederreiter scored a pair of goals to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon.
Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Alex Iafallo also scored for Winnipeg. Matt Boldy and Ryan Hartman replied for Minnesota.
Goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped 34 shots for Winnipeg (21-9-4) before a sold-out crowd of 15,325 fans at Canada Life Centre ““ the team’s first home sellout of the season.
Netminder Filip Gustavsson made 19 saves before being replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury to start the third period. Fleury stopped nine shots for Minnesota (16-14-4).
The Wild made it a one-goal game just 20 seconds into the third period when Boldy converted a Kirill Kaprizov rebound from in front of a screened Hellebuyck.
Jonsson-Fjallby restored Winnipeg’s two-goal cushion at 2:46 when he fired a shot past Fleury from the side of the net.
The loss ended a four-game winning streak for the Wild.
The Jets have now held opponents to three goals or less in a franchise-record 24 consecutive outings and 30 games overall this season, which leads the NHL.
Iafallo opened the scoring at 3:59 of the first period. His shot from inside the blue line deflected off Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon and past Gustavsson.
Niederreiter gave the Jets a 2-0 lead at 14:38 when he knocked in a rebound after a wraparound attempt by Adam Lowry.
Hellebuyck had to be sharp on a shot wired by Marco Rossi in the waning moments of the period.
Niederreiter made it 3-0 at 6:45 of the second period when he scored on a rebound after a point shot from Josh Morrissey. The Wild got on the board at 10:05 with a power-play goal as Hartman converted a Marcus Johansson pass from the side of the net.
NOTES
With an assist on Minnesota’s second goal, Kaprizov has nine points in Minnesota’s last five games, including back-to-back overtime goals “¦ Fleury, who played in his 999th career game, is one win away from tying Patrick Roy for second-most victories in NHL history (551) “¦ Heading into Saturday’s game, the Wild had won 11 of 14 games since John Hynes took over as head coach from Dean Evason “¦ Lowry is one goal away from 100 for his NHL career “¦ Winnipeg’s Gabe Vilardi has six goals and six assists in his last seven games.
UP NEXT
The teams will square off again Sunday afternoon in Minnesota.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 30, 2023.
