Dumba scores twice in Wild win against Jets

ST. PAUL, Minn.-- Defenseman Mathew Dumba scored two third-period goals for the Minnesota Wild in a 4-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves for Minnesota (24-17-4), which has won two in a row and has a point in six straight home games (5-0-1). It was its first win of the season against Winnipeg (26-13-7), which won the previous three meetings.
"I thought it was a good game by us," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We played good. I don't want to take anything away from our team, but we have to understand that Winnipeg]*
Mikael Granlund gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 8:47 of the first period, redirecting a Ryan Suter shot for the power-play goal. Granlund has five points (two goals, three assists) in a three-game point streak and has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in his past nine games.
"It was big. Lately I think the last five games or so we've been pretty good in the starts except the (3-2 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday)," Granlund said. "I think if we can keep doing that, it makes the game a lot easier for us and hopefully we can do the same thing tomorrow (against the Vancouver Canucks)."
Jason Zucker increased the lead to 2-0 at 5:40 of the second period with a wrist shot that beat Connor Hellebuyck. Zucker had been scoreless for seven games.
Blake Wheeler passed to Mathieu Perreault for a power-play goal to make it 2-1 47 seconds into the third period. Wheeler has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his past nine games.
"It's been 22 hours since we took our skates off last night, and that's tough," Wheeler said. "We knew it was going to be a grind. They controlled the first half of the game, we expected it. To be down 2-0 with half a game left, we had a chance. I thought we controlled most of the second, got on the board in the third, it's a 2-1 hockey game, third [goal] was the backbreaker."

Dumba extended the lead to 3-1 with a slap shot at 6:23 and to 4-1 at 13:32. He is tied for second among NHL defenseman with nine goals (Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets has 11).
"I think we're still hungry," Dumba said. "This is a big one. We're going to treat it like a huge game tomorrow going into our break. We'll be satisfied if we get the win tomorrow."
Hellebuyck, who started for the second straight game of a back-to-back, made 37 saves.
Dubnyk, who played his 200th game with the Wild, has allowed two goals or fewer in five of six starts since returning from a lower-body injury Dec. 29.

Goal of the game

Granlund's goal at 8:47 of the first period.

Save of the game

Dubnyk's poke-check of Joel Armia with 2:16 left in the second period.

Highlight of the game

Zucker's goal at 5:40 of the second period.

They said it

"We looked challenged in the first [period] especially. You have your whole group kind of behind the game, we weren't particularly strong tonight in any department. Power play was good for the four minutes or so that we had, but other than that we weren't a good hockey team tonight." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice
"This is an important week for us because other teams weren't playing. We've got one more game against a rested team tomorrow who will probably be thinking the way we were thinking today. So we have to be ready for them, especially coming off a win. I think they're going into their bye week too." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Need to know

Jets forward Shawn Mathias (lower body) was scratched. Goaltender Steve Mason was sent back to Winnipeg for evaluation of an illness that caused him to miss two games. The Jets have six days off until their next game. … Suter has five points (one goal, four assists) during a four-game point streak. Wild forward Mikko Koivu had an assist to give him six points (one goal, five assists) in his past five games.

What's next

Wild: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; SN, FS-N, NHL.TV)
Jets: At the Calgary Flames on Saturday, Jan. 20 (3 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN, NHL.TV)