With Marcus Foligno returning from a two-game suspension, the Minnesota Wild’s matchup with the Winnipeg Jets had all the hype of a steel cage match.
But the animosity led to a whimper as Mark Scheifele recorded a hat trick to help the Jets pick up a 6-3 victory on Wednesday night.
While many expected both teams to throw haymakers early, the Wild rolled into Winnipeg with a business-like approach. The cerebral mindset led to Joel Eriksson Ek’s 15th goal of the season midway through the first period.
The Wild strike first!! 🚨
Eriksson Ek gets inside and finds the back of the net. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/KjbW5OKDPt
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) February 17, 2022
With Connor Hellebuyck turning the puck over several times in the second period, the Wild had opportunities to add to their lead. But Minnesota couldn’t capitalize and Scheifele scored a pair of goals to give the Jets a 2-1 lead.
Scheifele stayed hot in the third period, scoring on a back door pass to complete the hat trick and put Winnipeg up 3-1. After Cole Perfetti’s second goal of the year gave the Jets a 4-1 lead, Mats Zuccarello stopped the bleeding with his 15th goal of the season.
ZUCCY ANSWERS!!@mnwild trail Winnipeg 4-2 in the third period. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/GD476qlHok
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) February 17, 2022
The Wild were energized by Zuccarello’s goal but Winnipeg answered with Kyle Connor’s 27th marker of the year. Minnesota’s last gasp came when Dmitry Kulikov scored with the extra attacker but Paul Stastny added an empty-net goal to hand the Wild the loss.
The Wild (30-12-3) will look to rebound on Friday night when they host the Florida Panthers.
