The Winnipeg Jets flew high against the Minnesota Wild clinching a tight 3-2 victory and leaving a bitter aftertaste on Marc-Andre Fleury's milestone 1,000th game, CBS News Minnesota reports. Dominic Toninato emerged as the hero for the Jets with the tiebreaking goal in the third, boosting his team to an enviable 6-0-2 in their recent matchups.
The Jets, who previously outplayed the Wild 4-2 on Saturday, managed to keep their momentum despite the Wild clawing back with two crucial scores by Marcus Foligno and Frederick Gaudreau, the team however failed to hold the line for a third straight win in their last ten games as contested by AP News. Laurent Brossoit, the Jets' goaltender, barricaded the net with 24 stops helping to cement the Jets' victorious stand in Fleury's historic ice outing, "I'm kinda happy it's over. I wish it was a win. Disappointing," Fleury remarked, in words obtained by CBS News Minnesota.
Intensity filled the arena even before puck drop as the Wild's top gun, Kirill Kaprizov, was benched due to injury, courtesy of a collision with Jets' defenseman Brenden Dillon in the previous game's faceoff. The hunger for redemption was palpable, leading to an opening bout between Pat Maroon of the Wild and Lowry, setting a combustive tone that, was simmering under an otherwise standard game of hockey with Wild setting a score in the first period followed by Lowry tying it up in the second, according to CBS News Minnesota.
The third period turned the tide with a quick succession of goals, Gaudreau's early slice to lift the Wild was matched by Namestnikov’s rapid equalizer for the Jets, and then Toninato toppled the scales favoring the Jets; the latter's first of the season and the clincher in the skirmish, "Going into both games, you knew it was going to be a hard-fought battle," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness told CBS News Minnesota.
Looking ahead, the Jets soar off to challenge the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday while the Wild, undeterred, gaze toward their testing tussle against the Calgary Flames on the same day, leaving audiences bracing for more high-octane puck drama as the NHL season continues its relentless skate forward.
