Winnipeg Jets center Adam Lowry (17) celebrates scoring a goal with Winnipeg Jets right wing Nino Niederreiter (62) during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, on Dec. 31, 2023 in St. Paul, Minn.Bailey Hillesheim/The Associated Press
Dominic Toninato scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Sunday, sweeping a weekend home-and-home series.
Adam Lowry and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for Winnipeg.
Laurent Brossoit stopped 24 shots for the Jets, who are 6-0-2 in their last eight games.
Marcus Foligno and Frederick Gaudreau scored for Minnesota, which lost for just the third time in its last 10 games.
Marc-Andre Fleury, who was playing in his 1,000th NHL game, made 26 saves for the Wild.
The teams traded power-play goals early in the third, with Gaudreau giving the Wild a 2-1 lead at 3:56 and Namestnikov evening the score less than a minute later.
Toninato scored the eventual winner at 7:32 of the third. A delayed penalty was called on the Wild, and with an extra attacker on the ice, the Jets set up in Minnesota’s zone. Toninato chipped a rebound over Fleury and into the net for his first of the season.
A tense atmosphere prevailed before the game as Wild star Kirill Kaprizov was scratched because of an injury that he suffered in Saturday’s 4-2 loss at Winnipeg. Kaprizov left that game in the third period after taking two cross-checks to the lower back from Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon.
The Wild were upset that no penalty was called, and Minnesota defenceman Jake Middleton later fought Dillon, setting a hostile tone for a rematch less than 24 hours later.
Just two seconds into Sunday’s game, Wild forward Pat Maroon and Jets captain Lowry dropped their gloves and fought at centre ice. But that was the extent of the fighting for the day.
Ryan Hartman appeared to put the Wild on top 1-0 late in the first period, but the Jets challenged the play and the goal was overturned as a Wild player was ruled offside.
But not long after, the Wild scored one that counted when Foligno redirected Jared Spurgeon’s shot from the centre point past Brossoit at 18:07 of the first.
Lowry tied it for Winnipeg early in the second, tucking a rebound of a Mason Appleton shot past Fleury for his seventh of the season.
The Jets kept up the pressure in the second period, hitting a post and a crossbar, but Fleury kept them in check until the third.