Scheifele has 4 points, Jets cruise past Wild for 4th straight win

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Mark Scheifele had a goal and three assists for the Winnipeg Jets, who won their fourth straight game with a 6-2 victory against the Minnesota Wild at Grand Casino Arena on Thursday.

“I think we've just been playing better hockey,” Scheifele said. “Everyone's firing on all cylinders. Guys are making plays, holding on to pucks, just kind of doing what's -- making the play in front of them. So, it's been a great team effort.”

Josh Morrissey, Gabriel Vilardi and Jonathan Toews each had a goal and an assist for the Jets (19-22-5), whose winning streak has come after an 11-game losing streak (0-7-4). Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves.

“We’re trying to catch some teams right now, and [the Wild] have got their own little (battle),” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “They’re in that top three (in the Central Division), so, they’ve got their battle up top there. For us, we need to keep piling them together."

Danila Yurov and Marcus Johansson scored for the Wild (26-13-9), who have lost three straight (0-2-1) and five of their past six (1-3-2). Jesper Wallstedt allowed six goals on 20 shots before being replaced at the start of the third period by Filip Gustavsson, who made nine saves.

“It’s disappointing. No one feels it more than the players,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “But tonight, it was certain things. It wasn’t a game where you got dominated or you got outplayed, but we talk a lot about being a disciplined team, a focused team, attention to details is critical, and if you’re just taking tonight’s game, those little things matter, and that’s why we enforce them and that’s why usually we’re a good team. And tonight it wasn’t that.”

Toews gave Winnipeg a 1-0 lead at 14:08 of the first period during a 5-on-3 power play. He knocked the puck in at the right post after Vilardi couldn't control the rebound of Scheifele's initial one-timer.

The goal was Toews' 900th NHL point.

“He’s really playing his game. Nine hundred points, that’s obviously amazing,” Arniel said. “He’s feeling it, which is awesome. Let’s just hope he feels it right through to the end of the season. It took him a while to find his legs, to find his place and his game. Now you see it and he’s getting the reward from it.”

Tanner Pearson extended the lead 2-0 with 11 seconds remaining in the first. Dylan DeMelo stopped Quinn Hughes' clearing attempt at the right point and immediately sent a shot toward the net that was stopped by Wallstedt. Pearson was then denied by the sprawling right pad of the Wild goaltender before he was able to lift in his second chance in front.

Morrissey scored just eight seconds later to make it 3-0. Toews won a face-off in the left circle to Scheifele, who found Morrissey for a one-timer with three seconds left in the period.

“We’re working for our bounces and creating that with hard work, and it's definitely a good feeling coming in here being up and having a good, maybe not a good first period, but a good end of the period,” Jets defenseman Logan Stanley said.

Yurov cut the deficit to 3-1 at 4:53 of the second period with a one-timer from the right hash marks.

“[Yurov’s] a very smart player in both ends of the ice. All three zones he’s a smart player,” Wild defenseman Jake Middleton said. “He found a lane there and got open.”

Stanley pushed it to 4-1 at 9:33, roofing a slap shot under the crossbar from the left circle after he kept the puck in at the blue line.

Vilardi scored a power-play goal to make it 5-1 at 12:51. He shot into an open net at the right post after Morrissey's initial attempt caromed to him off the end boards.

Scheifele made it 6-1 at 17:12. Alex Iafallo took a pass from Kyle Connor as he stepped out of the penalty box and skated all the way around the net before feeding Scheifele for a one-timer that went in off the far post from the right circle.

“What I really liked tonight was that there were six goals from six different people," Arniel said. "We’ve been struggling to score goals, but in the last probably three weeks here it’s starting to go the right way for us.”

Johansson made it 6-2 at 17:18 of the third period, scoring from in front after Matt Boldy sent him a backhand pass from behind the net.

“It’s tough,” Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. “We get in a hole, and it’s tough to come back. ... It just seemed like one of those games. Everything was kind of going in and just things kept falling on top of you, and when you were hoping to kind of get a breath you couldn’t.”

NOTES: Toews extended his goal streak to four games. He has 379 goals and 522 assists in 1,113 NHL games. ... Scheifele has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past five games. ... Wild defenseman David Spacek played 11:59 in his NHL debut.