Scheifele’s three points help Jets pull away from Wild

WINNIPEG -- Mark Scheifele had a goal and two assists for the Winnipeg Jets in a 5-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday.

“His instincts and his ability to just read the plays -- (Scheifele) plays at a very high pace,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “He's on his toes and he's anticipating the next play, or he's driving the next play. He loves the puck. Obviously, loves to have it and get it early.”

Cole Perfetti scored twice, and Kyle Connor had a goal and an assist for the Jets (4-1-1), who have won four of five (4-1-0). Neal Pionk had two assists, and Stuart Skinner made 19 saves.

“I think the three of them (Winnipeg’s top line of Scheifele, Connor, and Perfetti) are playing to the level that they can play at,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “They're all highly skilled players, highly talented players, but great work ethic. They play the game straight ahead, they’re very competitive on pucks when they're called upon to defend, they’re responsible in that way, so they're playing in sync right now. And the three of them are playing the way that they need to play to be highly successful guys.”

Scheifele said: "They're so much fun to play with. Obviously, tonight was a good one. I’m just really lucky to be able to play with those two guys. They were absolutely fantastic. It was fun.”

Kirill Kaprizov scored twice in the first period for the Wild (4-2-1), who had won two in a row, including a 4-2 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday. Calvin Pickard made 20 saves in his Minnesota debut.

“I was definitely jittery early,” Pickard said. “The guys played well early, and then (Winnipeg) kind of took over. But they're a good team and earned some good goals, and definitely a frustrating result.”

Perfetti gave Winnipeg a 1-0 lead at 1:50 of the first period, cutting to the slot in time to tip Pionk’s point shot under Pickard’s blocker.

“They get low to high and they got bodies in front of the net, and that's a good recipe to score in this league,” Pickard said. “You saw their skill -- their top line was really good tonight, too. They definitely made some good plays, had some good goals, but I thought we battled right to the end.”

Kaprizov tied it 1-1 at 8:47. After intercepting Dylan Samberg’s pass inside the Winnipeg zone, Kaprizov had his initial attempt stopped by Skinner before batting in the rebound out of the air.

“They're a good team, we know that,” Arniel said. “They’re a real good hockey team and they kept, sort of, punch-for-punch in that first period. I just felt like our detail, our execution, getting out of our zone in the first wasn’t very good.

Scheifele gave the Jets a 2-1 lead at 17:54 when Pionk circled the net and fed a cross-crease pass to him for the tap-in.

“(Pionk) is a very offensively gifted player,” Perfetti said. “He shows that on a nightly basis, the plays that he can make and his poise back there. He knows when to shoot, he knows when to make the pass -- tonight he has that backdoor pass to Scheifele.”

Kaprizov’s goal 44 seconds later tied it 2-2, tipping Quinn Hughes’ shot under Skinner.

Kaprizov has five goals in his past three games, and eight points (five goals, three assists) on a four-game point streak.

"He's playing fast, he’s skating well, he’s really competing on pucks,” Hynes said. “He's a highly talented guy that can score, but he's getting himself in the scoring areas. He's playing at a high pace. He's scoring in different ways, which is what you'd like to see. So that's what we need from Kirill, and when he plays to his identity, which he has been, he's a threat that's very difficult to stop.”

Perfetti scored on the power play to put Winnipeg back in front 3-2 at 16:36 of the second period with a one-timer from the left hash mark.

“It's never going to be perfect; I think you’re always going to want to clean some things up,” Perfetti said. “But I think for the most part tonight was a good example of defending hard, getting our offense from our defense and being able to not really give them much time and space and use that for our advantage. I think we're in a good spot right now. We want to get better at all assets of the game. But for this early on in the season, I think we're in a good spot.”

Connor extended it to 4-2 at 4:06 of the third period, spinning away from Tyler Pitlick and ripping a wrist shot from the high slot off the post and in.

“Traditionally, (Connor’s) been a shooter,” Perfetti said. “And I think you've seen his playmaking ability in the last few seasons and how well guys are honoring that and respect him, and now it's opening so many things up for him to make those plays.”

Cole Koepke pushed it to 5-2 at 14:42, scoring on a 2-on-1 rush with Vladislav Namestnikov after beating Pickard with a wrist shot low stick side.

Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon was a late scratch and did not play due to an upper-body injury. 

Earlier Tuesday, Minnesota placed forward Nico Sturm on injured reserve. Sturm was helped off the ice and did not return on Monday after Spurgeon’s shot through traffic hit him up high with 2:14 left in the first period.

“I don't have any updates on where they're at,” Hynes said of Spurgeon and Sturm. “They were both getting looked at today, so I'll probably have more information later in the week.”

NOTES: Kaprizov scored his 45th and 46th career game-tying goals, passing Zach Parise (44) for third most in franchise history. Only Mikko Koivu (49) and Marian Gaborik (48) have more. … Connor scored his 116th career third-period goal and tied Ilya Kovalchuk for the second most in franchise history behind Scheifele (137). … Hughes assisted on Kaprizov’s second goal, extending his season-opening point streak to seven games (10 points; two goals, eight assists). He has at least one assist in each of his games this season. … Minnesota forward Blake Coleman skated in his 700th NHL game.