Wild loses preseason opener at Winnipeg

Winnipeg – The Wild, minus several of its top players, lost 2-1 to the Winnipeg Jets in its preseason opener on Monday night.

Joe Morrow's goal broke a 1-1 tie in the third period but it should not have counted. The goal light went on, but video showed the shot hit both posts without crossing the goal line. Video replay is not used in the preseason.

Marko Dano also scored for the Jets.

Wild newcomer and Blaine native Matt Hendricks scored the lone Wild goal in the third period on assists from Ivan Lodnia and Louie Belpedio.

Having the night off were forwards Eric Staal, Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Mikael Granlund and Jason Zucker; defensemen Ryan Suter, Matt Dumba, Jonas Brodin and Jared Surgeon; and goaltender Devan Dubnyk.

Former Gopher Justin Kloos led the Wild with nine shots. Defensemen Ryan Murphy (23:08) and Greg Pateryn (22:41) led in ice time.

Goaltender Andrew Hammond, competing for the Wild's backup job, stopped 28 shots for the Wild. Laurent Brossoit made 39 saves for the Jets.

Before the game, the Wild sent forward Damien Giroux and defenseman Jacob Golden back to their Ontario Hockey League teams (Giroux to Saginaw and Golden to London); and released forwards Mitch McLain, Darian Pilon, Drake Pilon and defenseman Tate Olson from their amateur contracts. Olson will go to training camp with Iowa.