A Minnesota Wild team that is running low on healthy bodies may have run low on energy late in their first visit of the season to Winnipeg on Tuesday.
Playing the second night of back-to-back games, the Wild played even hockey with the Jets for 30 minutes, then surrendered three consecutive goals on the way to a 5-2 loss at Canada Life Centre.
Kirill Kaprizov had both goals for Minnesota, and has now scored five in the Wild’s past three games. Calvin Pickard, making his first start of the season, had 20 saves as the Wild fell to 4-2-1 overall.
The injury-riddled Wild got bad news before they had even touched down on Manitoba soil. While the rest of the team had gone directly from Grand Casino Arena to the airport following Monday night’s 4-2 win over Vegas, captain Jared Spurgeon went home to deal with an upper-body injury that kept him out of the lineup for the first time this season.
That meant Jonas Brodin moving to the top defensive pair with Quinn Hughes, and David Spacek slotting into the lineup for his third game of the season and the fifth of his career.
The Jets took the lead twice in the opening period, and twice Kaprizov had an answer to knot the game at 2-2 after 20 minutes. Kaprizov’s first goal came after a defensive turnover by Winnipeg, when the Wild star’s first attempt was stopped by Jets goalie Stuart Skinner, only to have Kaprizov bat the waist-high rebound out of the air and into the net.
After the Jets took the lead back, Kaprizov tipped a Hughes shot from the blue line late in the first. Hughes has had at least a point in every Wild game this season, which is a team record for a defenseman.
Minnesota had the only power play of the first and tested Skinner often, but to no result.
The Jets killed another penalty in the second, then took over the momentum, forcing the Wild to take their first penalty of the night. Winnipeg kept the momentum with the man advantage, then re-established the lead, scoring only the second power-play goal allowed by Minnesota this season.
Winnipeg extended its lead in the third and got 19 saves from Skinner in the first of four meetings with the Wild this season. They will meet next on Dec. 12 in Minnesota.
After an off day on Wednesday, the Wild return to St. Paul for a Thursday night meeting with the St. Louis Blues. It is a 7 p.m. opening faceoff.
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