Jets’ Stafford scores twice to top Minnesota Wild

On the other hand, Jets conference rivals Minnesota Wild (5-1-1) hold the third position in the standings and a total of 11 points.

Drew Stafford’s starting to become one of his coach’s most relied upon players.

But center Alexander Burmistrov was sent off for elbowing – a dreaded offensive zone penalty, the Jets second such infraction of the game – and Wild captain Mikko Koivu snapped a shot over Winnipeg goalie Michael Hutchinson’s right shoulder at 14:17 of the second period and the comeback was on.

Stafford had a goal 51 seconds into the second, chasing Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper.

“A 5-1 lead, you don’t want to let them back in the game”.

Drew Stafford scored twice for the Jets in the win. Little’s assist on Ladd’s first-period goal was the 200th of his National Hockey League career. The puck bounced off Little, then popped over Kuemper and in.

The Wild would make a charge late, including a gripping 6-on-4 power-play finish, but ultimately couldn’t overcome the Jets’ lead. Wild head coach Mike Yeo used a coaches challenge arguing the play was offside. Only instead of Dale Hawerchuk of the original Winnipeg Jets facing off against Bobby Smith of the Minnesota North Stars, Jets 2.0 took on the Minnesota Wild in an old fashioned shoot out.

Dubnyk looked to be in discomfort after saying the previous night that he felt his knee “pop” in the second period against Anaheim. Devan Dubnyk, coming off a shutout Saturday night, replaced Kuemper and gave up a goal on the first shot he saw also to Stafford.

Stafford increased the lead to 5-1 with his second goal with a few nifty stickhandling in the deep slot at 4:44. While it might be moot because the 5th goal was scored on Dubnyk, and had he stopped the puck, the Wild would have forced overtime, but you have to think about “what if?” Just 38 seconds later the Wild made it 5-3 when Justin Fontaine batted the puck in out of mid air and it was a two goal game through 40 minutes.

The Wild opened the scoring 10 second in when left winger Jason Zucker undressed Trouba off the opening face-off and ripped a shot past Hutchinson.

“Outstanding”, Maurice said when asked about Stafford’s contributions.

Then at 10:41 of the third period, Zach Parise made of those prototypical Zach Parise-type goals. he fought off a check, then stripped Jacob Trouba, who really had a tough game, of the puck and wrapped it around.

If you’re a glass-half full person, Sunday might boil down to another in a long line of teachable moments for this club; an opportunity to enjoy success on the scoreboard and yet still be aware that there is a lot of work to be done in the consistency department.

“When they slow the game down and take the life out of it, it’s hard as the team in the lead to keep that pace and keep your foot on the gas, especially when the score is that high”. It was a 5-4 final at the MTS Centre, the ninth game in the teams’ past 11 meetings decided by one goal.

NOTES: Wheeler set a new franchise record for longest point streak to start the season with points in all of his first eight games.

The Jets have two games remaining on their six game home stand. The Los Angeles Kings are up next on Tuesday followed by the Chicago Black Hawks on Thursday.