ST.PAUL, Minn – A beat up Jets team came into St. Paul battered and bruised after a physical roller coaster of a game Thursday looking to gain some more ground and keep the momentum going after a huge overtime win against the Predators.
The Jets and Wild have developed quite the rivalry the past five seasons and there was no shortage of Jets fans who made the trip as is always the case. A short staffed team got another huge sixty-minute effort from everybody and got a 1-0 win over the Wild.
The good news was Dustin Byfuglien was in the lineup after a scary fall Thursday night; he looked a bit sore but was still a force every time he was on the ice and he logged a team high 27:46 minutes and had four shots on goal.
The bad news was that Drew Stafford and Adam Lowry were unavailable to go meaning that Anthony Peluso and Adam Pardy were in. Jets coach Paul Maurice had to do some line juggling and that meant Pardy would be playing wing instead of his normal defensive spot, but for a guy who hasn’t played much he wasn’t complaining and played well and did his job.
The Jets came out with a mission and a purpose and it showed as Blake Wheeler scored after nice moves around the Wild zone he ripped a wrist shot past Devan Dubnyk for his 13th of the season.
“It was the perfect road game,” Wheeler said. “You want to try to limit what they’re able to do, especially in this building. They feed off the crowd. If you get this place quiet, time seems to clip off pretty quickly.
“Once that one went in, you could almost feel it was going to be one of those 1-0 or 2-1 games. It didn’t seem like there was a whole lot out there for either side and when there was the goalies made some big saves. That’s how you want to play it on the road.”
Connor Hellebuyck who got the win Thursday night got the start tonight in back-to-back games and proved he can handle the work as he stopped 24 shots to get the shut out and his 11th win of the season.
“He’s played exactly the same game,” Maurice said. “He’s poised in the net, he’s big, square, doesn’t let pucks come off him very often that he doesn’t know exactly where they’re going. At the end of the day, [he’s] the biggest piece.”
Hellebuyck made a couple big stops off Zach Parise and Ryan Suter who both will probably have nightmares about their chances.
“We got stuffed in the neutral zone [in the second period], but I thought we did a little bit better in the third,” Wild forward Zach Parise said. “We had a little more zone time. But if you don’t get through the neutral zone on these guys, it’s a long game, a tough game.”
The Jets did all the right things defensively and gave the type of effort they will need from here on out if they want to be a playoff team. Rookies Joel Armia and Nik Ehlers both had strong games as they used their speed and puck skills to control the play when they on the ice.
“Giving up the first goal has been a very common trend,” Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. “For a team like that, it allows them to try and lock it down and play a very patient game. It puts us in a press mode for the whole game.”
The Jets will get a day off Saturday before they welcome the Colorado Avalanche for another huge divisional game as they now see themselves just two points back in the Wild Card hunt.
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