By Canadian Press

Jets suffer third straight loss, lose 4-1 to Wild

Dec 27, 2022 | 7:55 PM

WINNIPEG — Jared Spurgeon, Mats Zuccarello and Frederick Gaudreau each had a goal and assist in the Minnesota Wild’s 4-1 victory Tuesday that handed the Winnipeg Jets their first three-game losing streak of the season.

Samuel Walker also scored his first NHL goal for the Wild, who are 7-1-0 in their past eight games. Sam Steel contributed a pair of assists.

Filip Gustavsson made 31 saves in his 14th game of the season for Minnesota.

Pierre-Luc Dubois scored for the Jets (21-13-1), who began a two-game homestand.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 24 shots for Winnipeg, which continues to be hit by injuries and is 1-4-0 in its last five games.

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Minnesota led 2-1 after the first period and 3-1 following the second.

The Wild used an early power play to go up 1-0 with Spurgeon’s low shot getting past Hellebuyck at 5:29.

They made it 2-0 just 64 seconds later when Kirill Kaprizov left a drop pass for Zuccarello that he fired under Hellebuyck for his 16th goal of the season.

The Jets couldn’t score on a power play that began a minute later, but 10 seconds after it ended Dubois curved around a defender and his shot went off the post and then off Gustavsson for his 16th goal at 10:03.

Minnesota went ahead 3-1 after Zuccarello stepped out of the penalty box. He passed the puck over sprawling Jets defenceman Kyle Capobianco to Gaudreau at the side of the net, who put it into the net at 8:55 of the second period.

Winnipeg outshot the Wild 13-7 in the middle frame, with Gustavsson making some key, late saves to help keep the lead.

The Wild netminder also stopped Mark Scheifele close in midway through the third.

Walker scored into an empty net with 2:05 remaining.

Winnipeg was 0-for-2 on the power play and Minnesota went 1-for-1.

FILLING IN THE GAPS

The Jets have used 27 skaters this season, which was tied for fifth in the NHL heading into Tuesday’s game.

The latest player to hit the infirmary was rookie forward Cole Perfetti, who suffered an upper-body injury in Winnipeg’s loss to Boston last Thursday.

The Jets’ cobbled-together top line was left-winger Kyle Connor, centre Pierre-Luc Dubois and Mark Scheifele playing on the right wing instead of centre.

UP NEXT

Jets: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

Wild: Host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 27, 2022.

Judy Owen, The Canadian Press