Game Recap: Wild 3, Jets 0

WINNIPEG -- Jesper Wallstedt made 32 saves for his NHL-leading third shutout of the season, and the Minnesota Wild won their fifth straight game, 3-0 against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Sunday.

“I have a great team in front of me,” Wallstedt said. “The way our team has sacrificed themselves, I feel like we’re one of the teams that blocks the most shots. We try to get in front of every puck. They take away sticks and everything and boxing out, so I can focus on my job. I feel like pucks have been getting stuck in me. Hopefully I show some calmness back there, that I can show that they can trust me.”

Wallstedt has won four straight starts, including the three shutouts, and the Wild have four shutouts during an eight-game point streak (7-0-1).

“We've gotten excellent goaltending,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I think both those guys [Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson] have deserved the shoutouts, but I think from a defensive standpoint, we're committed in that area. So I think strong [play] defensively combined with excellent goaltending is a good recipe for that.”

Kirill Kaprizov, Brock Faber, and Danila Yurov scored for the Wild (12-7-4), who had lost nine straight to Winnipeg dating back to the 2022-23 season.

“[Wallstedt is] playing like a wall right now,” Faber said. “It’s fun to watch and it gives us all confidence. You can tell that he’s just gaining confidence as every day goes by, it’s so great to see. It took time for him to get here. He worked and battled and went through adversity and ups and downs, and to see him playing the way he can play, it’s incredible and we just need to keep it rolling for him and [Gustavsson].”

Eric Comrie made 27 saves for the Jets (12-9-0), who have lost six of nine.

“I think we had a good start in the first period, and we've just got to find ways to sustain that energy that we had,” Winnipeg forward Jonathan Toews said. “You've got to stay with it in those situations. It's easy to get frustrated and I think sometimes you've just got to use that energy and that emotion to channel it the right way. Like I said, I think we liked our start today. We just didn't sustain.”

Yurov made it 1-0 Wild at 8:23 of the second period. Yakov Trenin stole the puck from Nino Niederreiter in the corner, skated behind the net and fed Yurov for a quick shot from the slot.

“What I've seen more with Yurov, I think he's getting more and more comfortable with the puck and with his offensive attack game,” Hynes said. “All year long, he's been real solid, I think, on the defensive end, and just with his hockey smarts. But now I think he's getting more confidence with the puck [and] when to make plays.”

Faber made it 2-0 at 18:12, scoring short-handed with a wrist shot as the trailer on a 3-on-2 rush.

“I was screaming [for the puck] just as loud as I could,” Faber said. “[Marcus Johansson is] obviously such a gifted passer, there was no doubt in my mind that he wasn’t going to pass that thing back.”

Kaprizov pushed it to 3-0 at 6:29 of the third period, lifting the puck over Comrie’s shoulder from the side of the net.

“Consistency, whether that’s period to period or game to game, has been something that I’d say in this first 21 [games] has been lacking,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “We always took a lot of pride in staying in and winning one-goal games. Right now, that’s not happening. We’ve got to look first at that. The longer you can hang around in games -- if it takes you 50 minutes to get ourselves a win, or longer. You can’t give up goals in the middle period like we have the last couple of games.”

Jets defenseman Neal Pionk left the game in the second period due to a lower-body injury. Arniel said Pionk is day to day and will be evaluated on Monday.

“I thought we did a pretty good job [after Pionk’s injury],” Winnipeg defenseman Dylan DeMelo said. “I thought the guys stepped up and played pretty hard. It is not ideal, losing Pionk early, who is a big piece on the back end and to our team. We hope everything is OK there, but it is a next-guy mentality, and whoever is in, if we go to five D, it is more ice for the rest of us and more opportunity. Try to take advantage of it and make the most of it.”

NOTES: Wallstedt is the second rookie goalie in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to post three shutouts through his first eight games of a season, joining Martin Jones (three in six games in 2013-14). He also leads the NHL in save-percentage (.935), and goals-against average (1.94). … Faber (23 years, 93 days) became the youngest defenseman in Wild history to score a short-handed goal. … Forward Nico Sturm played 13:36 in his first game since signing a two-year contract with the Wild on July 1. Sturm was recovering from back surgery after he was injured in training camp. … Since Nov. 1, Minnesota has gone 26-of-29 on the penalty kill, and has not allowed a power-play goal in nine out of 11 games this month. … Mark Scheifele skated in his 900th NHL game, all with Winnipeg. He hd two shots on goal in 22:01.