Wild score four in row to defeat Jets

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Three second-period goals and one in the third lifted the Minnesota Wild to a 4-3 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.
After trailing 2-0, Minnesota took a 3-2 lead with 5:00 remaining in the second period when Charlie Coyle found Eric Staal in the slot. It outshot Winnipeg 12-2 in the period.
"What I said (between periods) will stay in the room," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "But in no uncertain terms it was that we can be better than what we were playing. We looked when we came off at the end of the first period, the thing that got me more upset, was we looked defeated. And we had to change that. And they did. I thought in the last two periods we allowed eight shots or something and they played really hard and they got rewarded."

Winnipeg took the lead with goals 1:08 apart late in the first period. Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers picked off a pass by Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin and shot the puck top-shelf at 18:49. Jets captain Blake Wheeler scored on a tip of Dustin Byfuglien's shot with three seconds remaining.
After sitting two minutes for cross-checking, Wild forward Chris Stewart left the penalty box and scored to make it 2-1 at 7:25 of the second. Minnesota scored four seconds into a power play with a Matt Dumba goal at 8:23 to tie it 2-2.
"I think they came out a little bit flat [in the first period]," Wheeler said. "They regrouped and got a little bit quicker on us there in the second period. I think we were feeling good about our game after the first and didn't really match their speed there in the second and they kind of took over the game."
Brodin made it 4-2 at 14:08 of the third period when his shot from a weird angle slipped its way between goalie Michael Hutchinson's pads. With an extra attacker, Jets forward Mark Scheifele made it 4-3 with 19 seconds left.

Goal of the game

After a cross-checking penalty by Stewart, the forward got into position in the slot. After the puck bounced off Ehlers' stick, Stewart pushed it past the goal line for Minnesota's first.

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Save of the game

Shorthanded at 5:17 of the first period, Minnesota's penalty kill created a 2-on-1 for the second time toward Hutchinson. Jason Pominville tried to stuff a rebound, but Hutchinson stonewalled him to keep the game 0-0.

Unsung moment of the game

Fifty-eight seconds after Stewart scored, and four seconds into the Wild's fourth power play, Dumba picked up a loose puck and scored to tie the game 2-2.

Highlight of the game

Coyle skated the puck up the right side while Staal hustled to create a 3-on-2. Coyle passed the puck to the tape of Staal's stick for the easy goal and the Wild's first lead. The goal was Staal's first for the Wild. "It was a lot of fun," Staal said. "It was a great play by Charlie and I went to the net hard. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot there in the first and didn't put ourselves in a great spot. But I liked our response, obviously, in the second, and definitely felt the momentum in the building shift, and we were on the attack a lot in the second period."

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They said it

"They're getting it. Hockey's not brain surgery. … Play the game." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau on the players learning his system
"Yeah, the simplicity of the NHL game demands that waiting for things rarely ever works. All things open up after chaos gets created and we didn't create enough chaos in the offensive zone to create some of the plays we were looking for." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice
"We had to take a stand, and enough was enough. We knew we were going to get to our game, and we did." -- Wild defenseman Matt Dumba on the difference between the first and second period

Need to know

Stewart had an assist on goal by Dumba and fought Chris Thorburn in the second period for a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. … Minnesota is 14-0-2 in its home openers. "It's been a long summer to get to this point of the start of the season," Staal said. "You want to play well in your first home game and do the right things."

What's next

Wild: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, FS-W, NHL.TV)
Jets: Host the Boston Bruins on Monday (8 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, TSN3, NESN, NHL.TV)