WINNIPEG — Mats Zuccarello had a goal and an assist for the Minnesota Wild in a 4-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Center on Tuesday.
Zuccarello has scored seven goals in his past six games and has 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) in his past 13.
Jared Spurgeon and Frederick Gaudreau each also had a goal and an assist for the Wild (20-12-2), who have won seven of eight. Filip Gustavsson made 31 saves.
“From the goaltender out, we played the right way. We did a lot of good things,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “We got pucks out, we got pucks in, we didn’t mess around. Not a lot of turnovers. Just a real, almost a perfect game for coming off a break. We simplified. We didn’t make anything complicated tonight. So it wasn’t necessarily the game plan, but the execution was fantastic.”
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored for the Jets (21-13-1), who have lost three in a row for the first time this season. Connor Hellebuyck made 24 saves.
“The details are off a little bit,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “It’s not as strong as it once was, but that kind of goes into our whole 5-on-5 (game) right now. It’s not as strong as it was. Our attention to detail is not there.”
Video: MIN@WPG: Gaudreau scores off Zuccarello pass
Spurgeon gave the Wild a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 5:29 of the first period. He received a pass from low Ryan Hartman on a 3-on-2 rush and snuck a shot inside Hellebuyck’s left arm.
“[Spurgeon] is just everything,” Evason said. “How can you say anything without being positive about him? His play is one thing, but you guys don’t see, and maybe you do see, between whistles and timeouts of him going up and down the bench. Coaches don’t have to say a thing, and that’s so exciting when your leader is not only saying the right thing, but he’s doing the right thing, dictating to the group this is how we play. And he goes out and executes, and you can’t do anything but follow. His game has been all-around great.”
Zuccarello made it 2-0 at 6:33 with a one-timer off a drop pass Kirill Kaprizov.
“They kind of switched up their system a little bit from when we played them in Minnesota (a 6-1 loss on Nov. 23),” Jets defenseman Brendan Dillon said. “I think the biggest thing for them is the forwards blow out of the zone, and their D throw the high flippers, and the hard rims and bouncing pucks are tough to handle sometimes. They’ve got good players that can make plays. Their The top line can obviously hold on to pucks and find the open guy. For the most part we did a pretty good job coming back. They made some nice plays on their goals. Overall, it clearly wasn’t good enough.”
Video: MIN@WPG: Zuccarello scores in 1st period
Dubois cut it to 2-1 at 10:03 of the first. He made a move around Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin and scored after his shot hit off the post and deflected in off the back of Gustavsson.
Gaudreau pushed it to 3-1 at 8:55 of the second period, tapping in a saucer pass from Zuccarello on a 2-on-1.
“I don’t think we played up to the standard we expect out of everyone in terms of execution,” Jets forward Adam Lowry said. “Our passing wasn’t very crisp, decision-making, reads off face-offs, reads in and on them. I think we can play fast and be more aggressive on the forecheck. We can create more turnovers that will lead to extended zone time.”
Video: MIN@WPG: Dubois gets a rebound to score
Samuel Walker scored his first NHL goal into an empty net at 17:55 of the third period for the 4-1 final.
“I just kind of held it until [Winnipeg forward Kyle Connor] was away, and luckily it went in,” Walker said. “It was nice to have a little break, a couple of days off (over Christmas), but guys are ready to go, and just go out there and have fun.”
NOTES: Wild forward Sam Steele had two assists. … Gaudreau has five goals in his past seven games. … Winnipeg was 0-for-2 on the power play and is 0-for-7 in its past four games. … Josh Morrissey had the secondary assist on Dubois’ goal. He is the first defenseman in Jets history to reach 40 points in fewer than 40 games in a season (six goals, 34 assists in 35 games).
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