Jets tame Wild again

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This article was published 06/04/2024 (548 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Make it a clean sweep.

The Winnipeg Jets wrapped up the four-game season series with the Minnesota Wild Saturday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center by handing their closest geographical rival a 4-2 defeat.

The Jets outscored the Wild 17-9 in the process.

“It’s great,” said Jets forward Morgan Barron. “Their team has changed a lot from the start of the year to now. To do it, the games have been pretty spread out. I feel like we’ve done it in every phase of our season as well. Not easy to do. A little chippy there at times. But to see it come out our way is great.”

Jets head coach Rick Bowness wasn’t about to kick sand in the face of a Wild team that’s on the verge of being eliminated from playoff contention and has struggled mightily against Central Division opponents this season (8-12-3).

“We want the two points, it’s nice to get the road wins,” said Bowness, when asked about the importance of securing the series sweep. “We have a lot of respect for that team and organization. (Wild general manager) Billy (Guerin) and his staff have done a great job here. It’s a good team, a great organization. If we can sweep them, great. We’ll take the two points against anybody.”

The Jets, who improved to 47-24-6, made their way back to Winnipeg Saturday night and will be back in action Tuesday against the Nashville Predators as this four-game Central Division road trip continues.

Let’s take a closer look at what transpired:

FOURTH-LINE MAGIC: The Jets trio of Vlad Namestnikov (one goal, two assists), Alex Iafallo (one goal, one assist) and Barron (one goal) combined for three goals and six points to pace the offensive attack. The Jets depth has been praised all season long and this is the time of year when the fourth line must continue to shine.

“We’ve been talking about it all year (that) if we wanted to be successful we’ve got to have all four lines contribute and look the same and (Saturday) we did that,” said Namestnikov. “I guess this is kind of a rehearsal. We’ve clinched, but we have to continue playing the right way and kind of bringing the momentum into the playoffs.”

Barron felt this type of offensive eruption was inevitable, given how well they’ve been playing lately.

“We’ve kind of felt like we’ve been all around it and strung together some good games,” said Barron. “The puck just bounced our way a little bit more tonight than it has the last few games. Always fun when you can do that.

“I’m a little biased, (but) I would like all four lines to be going, playing well and playing often. You see the recipe for success, those teams in the past who have won the (Stanley) Cup. You look at Vegas last year. Their fourth line was impactful in a lot of different ways throughout the whole playoffs. A dress rehearsal for everyone.”

THE RACE: Combined with a 6-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers Friday night, the Colorado Avalanche saw their lead over the Jets in the chase for second spot in the Central Division trimmed to two points.

“We want home ice,” said Namestnikov. “That’s the big advantage so that’s why these five games left are very important. We’ve just got to keep going.”

While the priority for the Jets is to be peaking at playoff time, having home-ice advantage in a series with the Avalanche is certainly a carrot worth fighting for.

The door seems to be open wider after the Avalanche lost forward Mikko Rantanen to an upper-body injury Friday.

“We have a tough schedule and I was actually peeking at their schedule (on Friday) night,” said Barron. “Theirs is as equally tough as ours. We have that head-to-head matchup coming up here in a few days. It’s exciting.

“This is where you want to be at this time of the year, in the hunt, trying to claw away some points from the teams above you and try and take their place.”

THE STREAK: Sean Monahan is on a roll.

Thanks to an assist on the 31st goal of the season for Kyle Connor, Monahan extended his point streak to six games. He’s up to 56 points in 78 games, including 11 goals and 21 points in 29 games since being traded to the Jets. This assist was a thing of beauty as he showed great patience on the two-on-one rush before finding a passing lane to deliver a crisp pass to Connor for the one-timer.

“Every game, he plays the same,” said Namestnikov. “He’s very reliable, plays in all situations and he just makes our team that much deeper. So he’s been a hell of an addition.”

KNOCK, KNOCK: Former Jets blue-liner Declan Chisholm has taken full advantage of his opportunity with the Wild after being claimed off waivers in late January.

A fifth round pick of the Jets in the 2018 NHL Draft, Chisholm spent time on the top pairing with Jonas Brodin on Saturday and finished with a career-high 23:49 of ice time. He’s averaging more than 17 minutes per game since joining the Wild.

Chisholm had a nice rush in the second period but his teammates couldn’t convert the rebound chance. His mobility was on display throughout the contest.

“He’s done a good job of playing to his strengths,” Wild head coach John Hynes told reporters this week. “He’s a good-skating defenceman. He brings an offensive element to the game. I think he respects the defensive side of the game. He’s shown that he has a willingness to be able to play hard in the defensive zone, end plays, (win) board battles, net-front battles. He’s done a nice job on the power play. When he first came, you knew that he had the power play element to his game.”

Although Chisholm couldn’t lock down a spot among the top-six with the Jets, he’s been used on the second power-play unit and on the penalty kill while the Wild are without captain Jared Spurgeon. Chisholm is a restricted free agent this summer and looks like he’s found himself a home.

“I thought he looked great,” said Barron. “Seems like he’s on the scoresheet a decent amount. Glad to see he is doing well. He deserves it. It’s not easy going through what he went through when he was here. Definitely felt bad for him at times, but it’s just good to see that for somebody who works hard, it’s good to see things work out in the end. He’s got a long way to go, but he’s in a good spot here now.”

EXTRA, EXTRA: The Jets made just one lineup change, inserting defenceman Logan Stanley for Colin Miller.

All of Stanley, Miller and Nate Schmidt have been in the lineup during the past three games, so it appears as though the competition to join Dylan Samberg on the third pairing for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs is ongoing. Schmidt remains the front-runner but Stanley is making a late push that has clearly caught the attention of the coaching staff.

“It’s not so much a competition as it is just (to) keep them all playing,” said Bowness. “No one’s playing themselves out of the lineup, but we have to keep everyone playing. When we get to that point, we’ll make the right decision.”

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck made his 57th start of the season and finished with 25 saves, earning his 34th win of the season. He lowered his goals-against average to 2.41 and his save percentage sits at .920.

Special teams were not quite clicking on all cylinders for the Jets on Saturday. They were zero-for-two with the power play and gave up one goal on four opportunities on the penalty kill.

“It can be better,” Bowness said with a smile before taking a question about the struggles with zone entries. “An issue, yep. The whole thing. It wasn’t in sync, no.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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