Minnesota Wild centre Eric Staal, left wing Jason Zucker and defenseman Matt Dumba celebrate after Staal scored a goal on the Winnipeg Jets in the second period of Game 3, in St. Paul, Minn., on April 15, 2018.Andy Clayton-King/The Associated Press
After losing two tightly contested games to the Jets in Winnipeg last week, the Minnesota Wild were in danger of being buried like the snow-bound city they returned to over the weekend.
But taking heart from the friendly confines of the Xcel Energy Center, which has been a veritable home fortress for the Wild this season, Minnesota delivered a stern message to the Jets on Sunday night: They are still a storm to be reckoned with.
The Wild broke open a tight, tough-hitting affair in the second period when they outscored the reeling Jets 4-1 to eventually skate to a convincing 6-2 victory.
With the badly needed win the Wild have trimmed the Jets’ lead in the best-of-seven opening-round playoff series to 2-1. Game 4 is in Saint Paul on Tuesday night.
As was the case in the first two games of the series, the game was rugged and not for the faint of heart.
Minnesota was leading 2-1 heading into the second period where a Matt Dumba wrist shot threaded its way through a crowd and past Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck for a two-goal Wild lead.
Three minutes later Winnipeg’s Tyler Myers drilled a slapper past Minnesota netminder Devan Dubnyk to make it a one-goal edge.
But the Wild went on a spree after that, scoring three goals before the period’s end to take a commanding 6-2 lead.
The offensive barrage was started by Eric Staal, Minnesota’s leading scorer over the course of the regular season, on a sweet shot that beat Hellebuyck to the short side. It was Staal’s first goal of the playoffs.
A scant 20 seconds later, Jordan Greenway scored followed by Marcus Foligno, who delivered a number of rib-rattling hits, to make it a rout and chase Hellebuyck for the start of the third period.
The Jets were well aware that the Wild would be no pushovers playing at home where Minnesota had lost just six times in regulation in 41 regular-season games.
The unsettling weather made for a rather interesting travel odyssey for the Jets to get to the Twin Cities.
After Winnipeg Jets beat Minnesota 4-1 on home ice on Friday night to take a 2-0 series lead, the Jets boarded their plane following practice on Saturday for the hour-or-so flight into Minnesota.
The state was being pummelled by a severe winter storm that dumped more than 30 centimetres of snow in some locations and caused the cancellation of around 500 flights.
The Jets’ jet circled Minnesota-Saint Paul International Airport for close to 30 minutes seeking a break in the poor visibility.
But with the landing out of the question, the flight was diverted to Duluth, more than 250 kilometres away, where the plane sat on the tarmac for more than 2½ hours before flying back to Winnipeg.
While delayed in Duluth, the first ordeal the players had to deal with was a lack of Wi-Fi in order to download the necessities of life to their electronic devices – like television.
“A lot of the guys were using their hot spots [on their phones],” said Winnipeg forward Paul Stastny.
And then things really started to get tough.
“The guys were kind of hungry so once we ran out food then it was just kind of roaming around [inside the plane] and just kind of hang out with each other,” Statsny said.
The Jets were able to fly into Minneapolis without incident on Sunday morning, but had to forgo their usual pregame skate. The “older guys” loved that, joshed Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler.
As for the impact the travel headaches would have on the Jets, as they prepared for Game 3 on foreign ice, both teams scoffed it would have any impact.
“It’s all about the will and Winnipeg has will right now,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said before the game. “So this travel thing is a non-issue as far as I’m concerned.”
“We’re excited to get into a hostile environment and sink our teeth into it,” Wheeler added.
The game was a freewheeling, hard-hitting affair, picking up from the intense play that was established throughout the first two games.
The Wild emerged from a bruising opening period with a 2-1 lead, all of the goals occurring on the power play.
Wheeler opened the scoring at the 4:50 mark for Winnipeg, a goal Dubnyk completely misjudged, the shot originating from just inside the red icing line near the boards.
But the Wild roared back.
First it was Mikael Granlund finding the open side of the net at the 9:47 mark to tie the score. The go-ahead marker was provided by Zach Parise, his third of the series, on a tap-in past Hellebuyck with just two minutes left in the period.