Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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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.

“Almost a perfect game, for coming off a break,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “We simplified. We didn’t make anything complicated tonight. So it was not necessarily the game plan, but the execution was fantastic.”

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, who began a two-game homestand.

“Losing three in a row is frustrating and tough, but we need to find a way to stop the skid and start compiling points again,” Jets forward Adam Lowry said.

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

Jets coach Rick Bowness wasn’t using injuries as an excuse for his team being off its attention to details.

“It’s a scapegoat. They know what we’re supposed to be doing,” Bowness said.

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 defenseman Kyle Capobianco to Gaudreau at the side of 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.

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

“It’s nice to know that’s our first three-game losing streak of the year,” Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon said. “But every team, the rest of the way, we’re a measuring stick for teams with the way we’ve played these first 35 games.

“We can’t expect to surprise teams anymore. They’re coming here knowing what to expect. Playing their best hockey. We just can’t be surprised at that, especially come next game.”

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 on Thursday.

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The Associated Press

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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.


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

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