Fleury makes 46 saves, Wild top Jets to extend point streak to 11

WINNIPEG -- Marc-Andre Fleury made 46 saves for the Minnesota Wild, who extended their point streak to 11 games with a 4-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Wednesday.

"Our goaltender won the hockey game for us," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "Goaltenders come up big, and obviously 'Flower' was huge for us here tonight."
Marcus Foligno had a goal and an assist, and Oskar Sundqvist and Jake Middleton each had two assists for the Wild (37-21-7), who are 9-0-2 during their point streak.
Minnesota moved into a tie with the Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division. Dallas has one game in hand.
"I thought the guys defended well and covered the middle of the slot a lot and not give them too many Grade A's," Fleury said. "They blocked some shots and cleared pucks away, and obviously some nice goals up front to get the lead there."
Logan Stanley and Nino Niederreiter scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 19 saves for the Jets (36-26-3), who have lost seven of eight (1-5-2).
Winnipeg holds the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, four points ahead of the Calgary Flames.
"It's one of the best games we've played all year," Jets coach Rick Bowness said. "We dominated the game, 82 shot attempts. I don't know if we've done that this year. Lots of scoring chances. Fleury was outstanding. A lot of loose pucks we couldn't get our sticks to, but that's one of the best games we've played all year. If we play like that, we'll take it. Some nights you just don't get any puck luck, and right now we're not getting any puck luck. But I'll take that effort.
"We're still sitting in a playoff spot. We just have to play like that. We know what we're up against. We haven't lost that eighth spot right now, so we have to fight to keep it."

Foligno gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 14:14 of the first period, receiving a pass from Sundqvist on a rush and roofing a shot blocker side from the high slot.
Frederick Gaudreau extended the lead to 2-0 at 7:06 of the second period. Following a turnover by Niederreiter at the blue line, Gaudreau took a pass from Foligno and deked Hellebuyck in front.
Stanley scored 30 seconds later to cut it to 2-1, curling out from behind the net and finishing a rebound near the right post.
"It was good by [Vladislav Namestnikov] to get it on net. It was an easy one for me to put in," Stanley said. "It's disappointing to come away with the loss. We thought we played good and did a lot of good things. There is definitely a lot of stuff we can build on."

Ryan Hartman responded for Minnesota to make it 3-1 at 8:31, scoring five-hole from the top of the right face-off circle on a 2-on-1.
"Those three goals in the middle second, that was nice and you can relax a bit," Fleury said. "When you get the lead, you don't have to force plays to come back into the game. I think everybody took care of the rest and all through to the end of the game."
Niederreiter cut it to 3-2 at 17:15 of the second, gloving down the puck while spinning in front and beating the outstretched left pad of Fleury. It was his 400th NHL point.
Mason Shaw shot into an empty net at 19:22 of the third period for the 4-2 final.
"There's a lot of fight," Jets forward Kyle Connor said. "We're going to stick with it. We're going to keep pushing. There's no quit in here. Not a single guy. Even the guys out of the lineup, they come in and do a great job. We know we have a great team here, we just got to put it together. We're on that trajectory. The last couple games have been a [heck] of a lot better, so we got to keep building, keep getting better and look for the next one."

Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov left midway through the third period after being taken down to the ice by Stanley. He appeared to favor his left leg as he skated toward the tunnel.
"Honestly, I have not been in the room, so I don't know yet," Evason said when asked about the injury. "He was able to skate off, so I guess if there's a positive that was one of them."
NOTES: Fleury is 4-0-0 with a 1.23 goals-against average and .960 save percentage in his past four starts. … Stanley's goal ended Minnesota's shutout streak at 198:33, the longest in its history. … Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois, who was a game-time decision, did not play because of a lower-body injury. … Winnipeg has 39 goals by defensemen this season, second in the NHL behind the Carolina Hurricanes (42).