Fortuitous bounce gives #NHLJets the win 4-3. Off the boards, bounces on top of net & off of Curry's helmet into net pic.twitter.com/avwTEl56t7
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 28, 2014
A lucky bounce off the boards gave the Winnipeg Jets a 4-3 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center. It was their fifth straight loss.
The Wild had battled to keep pace with the Jets through regulation, tying the score twice in the third period to send the game into overtime.
The Jets’ Andrew Ladd sent the puck flying over the net at 2:13 left in the extra period. But the shot bounced hard off the back wall onto the top of the net, then ricocheted off the back of goaltender John Curry and fell into the net for the winning goal, according to NHL.com.
Curry was called up from AHL Iowa Saturday when Niklas Backstrom was placed on injured reserve due to illness, and Darcy Kuemper also fell ill. Curry made 19 saves in his season debut.
Kuemper is believed to be food poisoning. Backstrom is believed to be this stomach virus going through the team #mnwild
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 28, 2014
Next season the Wild should run a "Flu Shot Night" promotion where the first 5,000 fans get flu shots. Bill Veeck would do it.
— Judd Zulgad (@jzulgad) December 28, 2014
At least Minnesota got a point out of the game for sending it into overtime, on a power play goal by Thomas Vanek, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.
Vanek’s goal came just 32 seconds after Blake Wheeler scored a short-handed goal for the Jets to give them a short-lived 3-2 lead.
Jason Pominville scored earlier in the third for the Wild, and Mikael Granlund scored in the first.
The Wild fell to 16-13-4 overall. Winnipeg is 19-10-7. The two teams play again Monday night in Winnipeg.
