“The mindset needs to be to play the game the right way and play the game that gives us the best chance to win,” Hynes said, “gives us the best chance to produce offense, the best way to check. When you look in those areas where you want to go east-west and pass up shots and play a perimeter game, then you’re not going to score.”
The Jets didn’t slow down in the third.
Cole Perfetti pounced on a Jonas Brodin turnover in Wild territory at 2:07 and then Vladislav Namestnikov tipped in a Pionk shot at 7:36 to hand the Wild their second five-goal loss of the week after the Panthers ran away 6-1 on Wednesday.
During their four-game slump, the Wild have been outscored 16-4 while playing mostly without Joel Eriksson Ek, Jake Middleton, Yakov Trenin, Jakub Lauko and Gustavsson; Kaprizov is responsible for two Wild goals, while Rossi and Mats Zuccarello have one apiece. That line accounted for more than a third of the shots against Hellebuyck, who continues to perform like Teflon against the Wild.
He was also in net for Winnipeg’s earlier wins, 2-1 in overtime on Oct. 13 and 4-1 on Nov. 25, and finished the season series fending off 88 of 90 shots. He passed John Vanbiesbrouck and Frank Brimsek for the fourth-most shutouts (41) by an American goalie in NHL history.
This victory also widened the Jets’ cushion over the Wild in the division and overall standings to five points.