By Canadian Press

Vilardi propels Jets to 6-3 win over Wild

Feb 20, 2024 | 9:00 PM

WINNIPEG — Gabriel Vilardi scored twice and added an assist to propel the Winnipeg Jets to a 6-3 victory on Tuesday that halted the Minnesota Wild’s six-game point streak.

Kyle Connor had a goal and pair of assists, while Mason Appleton, Sean Monahan and Nino Niederreiter also scored for the Jets (34-15-5), who rebounded from a 6-3 Monday afternoon loss to the Calgary Flames — the most goals they’ve allowed this season.

Adam Lowry and Dylan DeMelo each contributed a pair of assists.

Laurent Brossoit made 26 saves for Winnipeg in his 14th game of the season (8-4-2).

Marco Rossi scored twice and Kirill Kaprizov notched a goal and assist for the Wild (26-24-6), who set a franchise record for goals in a 10-7 home win Monday against the Vancouver Canucks, including a franchise-best seven goals in the third period.

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Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 of the 29 shots he faced for Minnesota, which is 5-1-1 in its last seven games.

Winnipeg led 2-0 after the first period and 3-1 following the second.

Vilardi and Appleton scored 14 seconds apart to spot the home team a 2-0 lead.

Vilardi got things going with a power-play goal at 9:20 when he deflected a shot by Connor into the open side of the net.

It was Winnipeg’s fifth power-play marker in its past three games.

Appleton quickly followed that up by beating Fleury with a high shot over his left shoulder at 9:34.

Minnesota outshot the Jets 11-8 in the period.

Connor made it 3-0 at 1:54 of the second when he took a pass from Vilardi and recorded his 20th goal of the season.

Vilardi has eight points, including four goals, in a three-game point streak. Connor’s three-game point run features one goal and six assists.

Minnesota hit the post midway through the second period and then went on the power play when Vilardi was called for high sticking at 12:14.

Rossi scored with four seconds remaining with the man advantage with a shot from the circle for his 16th of the season.

Vilardi made it 4-1 on the power play at 9:38 of the third and Monahan increased the lead to 5-1 just 58 seconds later.

Monahan has five goals in a three-game point streak, including a natural hat trick on Monday.

Kaprizov and Rossi then filled the net within a two-minute span to squeeze the score 5-3 with just under six minutes remaining.

Kaprizov has 14 points in a six-game point streak. Joel Eriksson Ek assisted on his goal and has 13 points in a six-game point streak.

Niederreiter scored an empty-net goal with 2:58 left.

NOTES

Winnipeg has scored two power-play goals in three straight games. The last time the Jets had multiple power-play goals in three consecutive games was Feb. 19-23, 2012. … The Jets played their fifth of seven back-to-back sets this season. They’re 3-2-0 in the first game and 5-0-0 in the second game. … Winnipeg is 13-3-1 against the Central Division this season, including three wins over the Wild. The last time Winnipeg won three games against Minnesota in a season was 2017-18.

UP NEXT

Jets: Play Friday in Chicago against the Blackhawks. 

Wild: Play Friday in Edmonton against the Oilers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2024.

Judy Owen, The Canadian Press