Wild Flat In 5-1 Loss At Winnipeg
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Mark Scheifele scored his team-leading 27th goal and the Winnipeg Jets gave their fans something to cheer about in their last home game of the season Sunday night, a 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild.
Minnesota dropped its third straight game and squandered a chance to clinch a playoff spot.
Fans gave the Jets a standing ovation and chanted "Go Jets Go!" during the final minute. Players raised their sticks to acknowledge the crowd after the final buzzer.
Chris Thorburn ended a 47-game goal drought for Winnipeg with his sixth of the season. Andrew Copp, Drew Stafford and Blake Wheeler, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Jets.
Ondrej Pavelec made 28 saves.
Wild center Mikael Granlund scored his 13th goal of the season, with Mikko Koivu picking up an assist to give him 10 points in his last 10 games, including two goals.
Devan Dubnyk stopped 29 of the 33 shots he faced for the Wild, who dropped their third straight game and failed in their attempt to clinch a playoff berth.
Minnesota could have secured a Western Conference wild card with a win and a loss by Colorado.
The Wild hold the second wild-card berth with 87 points and remain five points ahead of the Avalanche, who have a game in hand.
The Jets finished with an 18-19-4 home record and wrap up their season on a three-game road trip with stops in Anaheim, San Jose and Los Angeles.
Minnesota ends its regular season hosting San Jose and Calgary.
Scheifele's goal extended his point streak to seven games, with four goals and 10 points during that span.
He recorded Winnipeg's first power-play goal in 11 games at 17:55 of the first period with Wild forward Nino Niederreiter in the penalty box for hooking.
Nikolaj Ehlers received a pass from Alexander Burmistrov at the bottom of the faceoff circle and then sent the puck across the front of the net to Scheifele, who fired it just inside the post.
Winnipeg outshot the Wild 13-7 in the opening period.
Thorburn's first goal since Dec. 15 came on a breakaway after a Wild pass hit the stick of Winnipeg's Matt Halischuk and slid up to Thorburn, who beat Dubnyk low on the blocker side at 12:37 of the second for a 2-0 lead.
Granlund made it 2-1 with his goal at 7:37 of the third, but Copp replied at 9:03 when he went between two defenders and put a shot between Dubnyk's pads.
Stafford notched his 21st goal of the season at 12:55 on the power play. Wheeler's empty-netter at 17:16 was his 23rd of the season and boosted his point streak to eight games with 11 points, including five goals.
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