Takeaways: Wild extend winning streak to five with 3-0 victory over Jets

Not even the pesky Winnipeg Jets were a match for the resurgent Wild.

After losing nine in a row to the Central Division rival Jets, including four straight in Winnipeg, the Wild finally prevailed 3-0 on Sunday at Canada Life Centre to extend their season-high winning streak to five games.

Jesper Wallstedt made 32 saves for his NHL-leading third shutout in his past four starts.

“Let’s keep the streak going,” Wallstedt, speaking to reporters in Winnipeg, said he told fellow goalie Filip Gustavsson, who blanked the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0 on Friday.

Danila Yurov scored his third goal of the season, Brock Faber netted the first shorthanded goal of his career, and Kirill Kaprizov added an exclamation point against a Jets lineup missing goalie Connor Hellebuyck, the reigning NHL MVP who is out because of a knee injury.

Since the Wild finished October on a season-worst five-game losing streak, they are a league-best 9-1-1 in November.

They have scored first in a franchise-record 12 consecutive games, which is tied for the 10th-longest run in NHL history, and the Wild haven’t trailed for the last eight games — a stretch of 480 minutes.

The Wild’s five total shutouts this season are tops in the NHL.

“We’ve gotten excellent goaltending,” coach John Hynes said. “Both guys have deserved the shutout. But from a defensive standpoint, we’re committed in that area. So, I think strong defensive play combined with excellent goaltending is a good recipe.”

Winnipeg was in charge early, jumping out to a 6-0 advantage in shots, but the Wild settled down as the first period progressed and dictated more in the second.

“We play not our game first 10 minutes, and Wally did a couple great saves,” Kaprizov said. “We just play a little bit slower and don’t win battles first maybe seven, 10 minutes. But from second period, we started to play better.”

Take their first goal, with the Wild effectively getting up ice and hemming the Jets in their zone after they steered a Marcus Foligno rebound to the boards. There, Yakov Trenin forced a turnover by former Wild forward Nino Niederreiter before setting up Yurov at 8:23.

Jets captain Adam Lowry fought Foligno soon after Yurov’s goal, but momentum stayed with the Wild.

Zach Bogosian, in only his second game back from a lower-body injury caused by a shot block, got in front of a Josh Morrissey wind-up — one of 18 blocks by the Wild.

Then after the Wild’s only power play was cut short by a holding penalty against Kaprizov, Faber joined a shorthanded rush, accepted a Marcus Johansson pass and buried a 3-on-2 shot with 1:48 left in the second. Winnipeg finished 0-for-4 on the power play.

BOXSCORE: Wild 3, Winnipeg 0

NHL standings

Since Oct. 26, Faber’s five goals are tied for second in the NHL among defensemen.

“I was screaming just about as loud as I could,” said Faber, who is the youngest defenseman in team history with a shorthanded goal and first defender to score one since Carson Soucy on Dec. 14, 2019. “Jojo’s obviously such a gifted passer. There was no doubt in my mind that he wasn’t going to pass that thing back.”

In the third period, Kaprizov got behind the Jets to lift his 13th goal at 6:29 over goalie Eric Comrie (27 saves) and match Matt Boldy for the team lead. Kaprizov is up to 10 points during a five-game point streak.

The eight-game point streak (7-0-1) is the Wild’s longest since they went 6-0-2 during the 2022-23 season.

This result was a long time coming for the Wild.

They didn’t panic while the Jets pressured early.

Instead, they looked poised in their response and were methodical the rest of the way with timely goals and stops.

“We came out in the second, [and] our battle level, our competitiveness, was better,” Hynes said. “We played more of a direct game, and I thought we were able to get to the game that was going to give us the best chance to win.”

Joining this groove was Nico Sturm.

Sturm, a two-time Stanley Cup champ who signed as a free agent in the summer, made his season debut after the center was sidelined the first 22 games with a back injury. This is Sturm’s second stint with the Wild after he broke into the league with them in 2019.

Wallstedt’s 6-0-2 start is the best in Wild history, and the 23-year-old is the youngest Wild netminder to go on a five-game winning streak.

He’s also the fourth youngest in NHL history to have a season-opening point streak of at least eight games and just the 10th rookie to accomplish the feat.

“He’s playing like a wall right now,” Faber said. “It’s fun to watch. It gives us all confidence.”

In 13 career games, Wallstedt has four shutouts and is only the second rookie goaltender in the league’s expansion era to record three through his first eight games of a season.

Oh, and Wallstedt’s .935 save percentage and 1.94 goals-against average are first in the NHL.