Jets Shut Out Wild 5-0 for League-Leading 24th Win

The Winnipeg Jets picked up their league-leading 24th win of the season on Saturday night, thanks to a 5-0 home victory over the visiting Minnesota Wild.

Cole Perfetti led the way with a goal and two assists, while 10 different players collected points for Winnipeg, as Connor Hellebuyck earned his 21st win - and fourth shutout - of the year.

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After a frantic, run-around opening two minutes that saw two breakaways - one each way - and a Josh Morrissey hooking penalty, the Jets decided to wake up.

They did so to the tune of 10 shots on goal, with two of them resulting in goals.

The first came off a Nikolaj Ehlers power play marker just six seconds into a Jon Merrill holding the stick minor. A face-off win led to immediate puck possession for Winnipeg, to which Josh Morrissey shifted the disc to Kyle Connor, who got it to Ehlers, net-side, who shovelled it past Jesper Wallstedt 6:51 into the game.

Morgan Barron doubled the Jets' lead, scoring on a juicy rebound off a successful two-on-one with Alex Iafallo. Adam Lowry picked up the secondary assist on the 2-0 play.

“We knew they were on a back-to-back and they were obviously going to be a little tired," Perfetti said post-game. "We wanted to have a good start. We haven’t had that as of late. Our first period was huge, and we really wanted to take them out of the game. And I think we did that."

Winnipeg added another tally in the middle stanza, once again, in the opening moments of a man advantage.

Just 14 seconds into a delay of game minor, Neal Pionk hammered home his fifth of the season, blasting a one-timer through a screened Wallstedt, making it 3-0 fro Winnipeg. Cole Perfetti and Nino Niederreiter picked up the helpers on Pionk's clapper.

The Jets' other special team did its part to limit the damage from Minnesota in the second period as well, killing off the two penalties Winnipeg took, helping bring up the penalty kill success rate with four-straight blank sheets on the night.

The Jets led 3-0 on the scoreboard and 17-12 on the shot chart through 40 minutes of play.

Minnesota gave up another two goals in the first half of the third period, with Perfetti scoring on an egregious turnover before picking up an assist on a Vlad Namestnikov redirection tally.

“It goes to show you our depth," Perfetti said of the team's well-rounded offence. "That’s when we’re at our best, when all four lines are playing like that and able to contribute, top to bottom, defensively and on offence. We didn’t give them much. We really suffocated them. That’s when we’re at our best and when our team looks the way we can is when all four lines are going like that.”

The only concern on the night was that of the status of captain Adam Lowry, who left midway through the third period with an apparent injury.

Hellebuyck finished the night by stopping all nineteen Wild shots he faced, while Wallstedt made 19 saves on 24 pucks directed his way by Winnipeg.

Next up for Winnipeg is the final test before the holiday break. The Jets will travel to Toronto for a rare Monday afternoon contest with the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. Puck drop is set for 1:00 PM central.