Cole Perfetti scored a pair of goals, including the go-ahead tally, as the Winnipeg Jets pulled away for a 5-2 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.
Perfetti and his No. 1 linemates, Mark Scheifele (one goal, two assists) and Kyle Connor (one goal, one assist), combined for seven points for Winnipeg, which won for the fourth time in its past five games. Neal Pionk added two assists.
Kirill Kaprizov scored both goals for Minnesota, which lost in regulation for only the second time this season.
Jets goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped 19 of 21 shots.
Wild goaltender Calvin Pickard allowed five goals on 25 shots in his season debut.
Winnipeg struck quickly with a goal 1:50 into the game. Pionk unleashed a wrist shot from near the blue line, and Perfetti deflected it just past Pickard’s stick side and into the back of the net.
The Wild evened the score with 11:13 remaining in the period. Kaprizov poked the puck loose from a Jets defender and headed to the crease on a mini-breakaway. His first shot was stopped but he scored on the rebound.
The Jets regained a 2-1 lead with 2:06 left in the period. On the power play, Scheifele set up in the slot and scored his first goal of the season, a one-timer off a pinpoint pass from Pionk.
Forty-four seconds later, Kaprizov struck again to even the score at 2-all. He redirected a shot from Quinn Hughes past Skinner for his NHL-leading eighth goal this season.
Perfetti provided the go-ahead goal on the power play to make it 3-2 with 3:24 left in the second period. He scored from the slot on a one-timer for his fifth of the season.
The Jets increased their lead to 4-2 with 15:54 remaining in the third. Connor carried the puck left to right, wheeled to his forehand and scored on a rising wrist shot for his seventh goal.
Cole Koepke scored on a 2-on-1 rush to boost the Jets’ lead to 5-2 with 5:18 left.
-Field Level Media
