Marc-André Fleury had a hard night’s work and helped the Minnesota Wild defeat the Winnipeg Jets 4-2 at Canada Life Centre.
The Quebec goalkeeper made 46 saves to sign his 20th victory of the season, a plateau he reached for the 14th time in his career.
Marcus FolignoFrederick Gaudreau, Ryan Hartman et Mason Shaw scored the goals for the Wild (37-21-7), who picked up a point in their 11th straight game (9-0-2). With this victory, Minnesota joins the Dallas Stars at the top of the Central Division, but the Texas formation has a game in hand.
Logan Stanleywith its first of the season, and Nino Niederreiterhis 20th, scored for the Jets (36-26-3), who saw Connor Hellebuyck yielded three times on 22 throws. Winnipeg has won just one of its last eight games (1-5-2) and is the second-fourth ace in the West, four points ahead of the Calgary Flames.
Foligno was the only one to find the back of the net in the first period. His shot from the slot in the top corner on a counter-attack left Hellebuyck no chance at 14:14.
Gaudreau doubled the visitors’ lead at 7:06 of the second period when he found himself alone in front of the Jets goaltender. Stanley, however, replied 30 seconds later by jumping on a return throw near Fleury.
Hartman at 8:31 and Niederreiter at 17:15 scored next and the Wild led 3-2 after two periods.
Fleury held the fort in the third period, stopping 16 shots. Then Shaw completed the scoring in an empty net with 38 seconds left.
Wild striker Kirill Kaprizov left the game midway through the third period and did not return. He appeared to injure his left leg following contact with defenseman Stanley.
