Mark Scheifele recorded his fifth career hat trick -- and second of the season -- to propel the host Winnipeg Jets to a 6-3 win against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.
Captain Blake Wheeler had four assists, Scheifele added one of his own and Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves for the Jets, who improved to 3-1-1 in their past five games.
Cole Perfetti had a goal and an assist for Winnipeg, and Kyle Connor and Paul Stastny also scored.
Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov scored for the Wild, who lost for only the second time in their past 10 games -- both times to the Jets. Zuccarello also had an assist, and Kirill Kaprizov contributed two helpers.
Eriksson Ek put the Wild ahead 1-0 at 10:29 of the first period after deflecting a point shot by defenseman Jared Spurgeon.
Scheifele extended his goal streak to five games to tie it 1-1 at 9:20 of the second period. Wheeler intercepted a pass behind the net and skated to the bottom of the left circle before feeding Scheifele in front.
Scheifele connected on the power play to give Winnipeg a 2-1 lead with 12 seconds remaining in the middle frame, blasting a one-timer from the half wall past Cam Talbot (25 saves).
He completed his hat trick at 1:07 of the third period to give Winnipeg a 3-1 lead. Wheeler won a battle and picked up a loose puck in front before feeding Scheifele at the left of the net for the tap-in. Scheifele also had a hat trick in the Jets' 8-4 win over the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 3.
Perfetti extended the lead to 4-1 just over a minute later, deflecting defenseman Nate Schmidt's shot in the slot at 2:23.
Zuccarello narrowed it to 4-2 at 4:20 of the third, finishing off some quick passing by the Wild with a short-side shot from the left circle.
Connor took a cross-ice feed from Perfetti and scored on a breakaway to make it 5-2 at 10:02.
With the Wild net empty, a pinching Kulikov poked home a rebound from in front to cut the deficit to 5-3 at 16:46.
Stastny scored into an empty net at 17:50.
--Field Level Media
Minnesota | Winnipeg | |
Mats Zuccarello 2 | Points | Mark Scheifele 4 |
Mats Zuccarello 1 | Goals | Mark Scheifele 3 |
Kirill Kaprizov 2 | Assists | Blake Wheeler 4 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Mark Scheifele 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Cam Talbot .833 | Save Percentage | Connor Hellebuyck .917 |
Cam Talbot 25 | Saves | Connor Hellebuyck 33 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Minnesota | 36 | 3 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 4 | 23 |
Winnipeg | 31 | 6 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 4 | 33 |