Wild gains ground but not on Winnipeg after OT loss

WINNIPEG – "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear."

That's what the Winnipeg Jets had to be feeling with the Wild surging from the rear on a six-game winning streak since the All-Star break.

On Jan. 27, the Wild was 14 points back of its division rivals for the top Western Conference wild-card spot. Tuesday night, the Wild could have moved within four with a regulation victory.

Playing for the second time in 24 hours and without Ryan Carter and soon-to-be-operated-on Jason Zucker, the sluggish, undermanned Wild at least gutted out a point before Dustin Byfuglien flicked his wrists for an overtime goal and a 2-1 Jets victory at MTS Centre.

Devan Dubnyk's terrific goaltending, especially early, enabled the Wild to settle for moving within two points of the final playoff spot. However, the Jets got a proverbial three-point swing, moving seven up on the Wild, which has played three fewer games.

"We knew it would be a tough game [after overextending itself down two forwards the night before in a win over Vancouver]," Dubnyk said after making 32 saves in his 11th consecutive start. "We did a pretty good job weathering the storm in the first that you know is coming in this building.

"That's a big game and we want two points, but it's a big one point."

With the Wild a minute from a shootout, defenseman Jared Spurgeon, fresh off the bench, took an exchange high in the Jets end, skated into the left circle, turned and tried to pass up top to Mikko Koivu, who along with Jason Pominville, was more than a minute into his shift.

Byfuglien read it perfectly, picked off the pass, wheeled past a diving Koivu and took off. Ryan Suter cut off the pass, but with Byfuglien at a tight angle in the right circle, he wristed a shot off the far post and in.

"Horrible play by me, and I let the team down," Spurgeon said.

Coach Mike Yeo was blaming nobody. Hours after announcing Zucker will need surgery on a broken collarbone that will end his season unless the Wild plays well into May and that Carter is out a month because of an upper-body injury, Yeo knew the Jets would pressure the Wild hard. Winnipeg knew the Wild's depth was being tested and that it played the night before.

Yeo was right, but Dubnyk, despite 10-0, 13-1 and 15-3 shot disadvantages at certain junctures, enabled the Wild to survive a scoreless first period.

"I'm very pleased the way we fought through a tough game," Yeo said. "You could tell that our energy level was not there. We grinded it out and in the end we were able to get a big point."

The game was scoreless until l7:53 into the third period when defenseman Toby Enstrom's point shot was perfectly — and accidentally — past Dubnyk by Wild forward Nino Niederreiter.

That was the first time the Wild trailed since Jan. 20, ending a streak of 419 minutes, 32 seconds.

The deficit was short-lived. Only 2:29 later, Zach Parise stick-checked Jim Slater in the slot and Pominville pounced on the turnover for his second goal in two games.

Parise called getting a point a "silver lining." But he credited Dubnyk and said "we didn't play that well for a lot of stretches."

The Wild will take Wednesday off to rest tired legs. Yeo knows Thursday's home game — the tail end of three in four games — against Florida will be a gut check.

Yeo and the coaches already were talking lines after Tuesday's game in order to get the best out of players who must step up with Zucker, Carter and Matt Cooke hurt.

"We've been short-manned all season, so it's nothing new to us," Parise said. "We've got to find guys to replace those guys that got hurt. They're a big part of our team and a big part of us winning again. So we just need other people to fill those voids right now."