WINNIPEG, MB — Nino Niederreiter scored two goals and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2 on Saturday.
Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Alex Iafallo also scored for Winnipeg, which improved to 9-1-2 in its last 12 games. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 34 shots in front of a sold-out crowd of 15,325 at Canada Life Centre.
“He made the saves when he needed to, he’s been terrific (over) the last few games,” Niederreiter said. “He’s a big reason why we are successful in the (defensive) zone. He keeps things calm in front of the net.”
Niederreiter scored both of his goals from in close.
“I think that’s where my office is,” said Niederreiter, who has 12 goals on the season. “I like to be in the paint.”
Matt Boldy and Ryan Hartman scored for Minnesota, which had won four in a row.
Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson made 19 saves before being replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury to start the third period. Fleury stopped nine shots.
“I liked that we didn’t quit,” Fleury said. “All of the guys battled hard right to the end. I think we all agree that it wasn’t our best night tonight. The good thing about it is we can forget about it, and we can play a little bit more like we can (on Sunday).”
Fleury added that Gustavsson came out because he “wasn’t feeling great.” Fleury was applauded for appearing in the 999th NHL game of his career.
“That was flattering. It was pretty nice of the Jets fans to give a cheer like that,” said Fleury, who is expected to play in his 1,000th game on Sunday.
”It’s pretty cool to get there, right? But it will be nice to be done with it.”
Fleury is one win away from tying Patrick Roy for second-most victories in NHL history (551).
The Wild made it a one-goal game 20 seconds into the third period when Boldy converted a Kirill Kaprizov rebound from in front of a screened Hellebuyck.
Jonsson-Fjallby restored Winnipeg’s two-goal cushion at 2:46 when he fired a shot past Fleury from the side of the net.
“We talk a lot about timely saves and timely goals, we got both today,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said. “(Hellebuyck) made a lot of timely saves and that timely goal – the fourth — was huge for us.”
The Jets have held opponents to three goals or less in a franchise-record 24 consecutive outings and 30 games overall this season, which leads the NHL.
Iafallo opened the scoring at 3:59 of the first period. His shot from inside the blue line deflected off Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon and past Gustavsson.
Niederreiter gave the Jets a 2-0 lead at 14:38 when he knocked in a rebound after a wraparound attempt by Adam Lowry.
Hellebuyck had to be sharp on a shot wired by Marco Rossi in the waning moments of the period.
Niederreiter made it 3-0 at 6:45 of the second when he scored on a rebound after a point shot from Josh Morrissey.
The Wild got on the board when Hartman scored a power-play goal 10:05 into the second. Hartman converted a Marcus Johansson pass from the side of the net.
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The Jets and Wild play again on Sunday in Minnesota.
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