Minnesota Wild exit Winnipeg with a point after overtime loss to the Jets

WINNIPEG – The Wild never solved the Jets last season, getting swept to continue what’s become a lopsided Central Division rivalry, and the Wild still don’t have an answer despite a gutsy effort.

Usually leaving Winnipeg hurt, the Wild arrived hobbling but eked out a point from a 2-1 overtime loss on Sunday night at Canada Life Centre to sit 1-0-2 three games into their season.

The Jets’ Kyle Connor broke a 1-1 tie on the power play 51 seconds into overtime and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck had 26 saves for Winnipeg’s fifth consecutive win over the Wild, a streak that dates back to the 2022-23 season.

But losses haven’t been the only eyesore for the Wild in this matchup.

They’ve also taken physical punishment from the Jets, with Brock Faber and Filip Gustavsson getting injured last season in Winnipeg; Kirill Kaprizov was sidelined after trips in each of the past two seasons.

For their most recent visit, the Wild were already injured.

Joel Eriksson Ek has a broken nose after getting elbowed in the face during the 5-4 shootout loss to Seattle on Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center and didn’t travel with the team. Neither did captain Jared Spurgeon, who suffered a lower-body injury in that game.

Spurgeon was still getting evaluated Sunday and is considered day-to-day.

Eriksson Ek, however, is expected to suit up on Tuesday at St. Louis when the Wild continue a stretch of seven straight road games.

Liam Ohgren made his season debut in Eriksson Ek’s absence, and since Marcus Johansson was a game-time decision, the Wild had to assign goaltender Jesper Wallstedt to the minors to bring up an extra forward in Travis Boyd as an emergency recall. Johansson, who left Saturday’s game briefly after a collision with the Kraken’s Jordan Eberle, stayed in the lineup.

But despite missing two of their top players and playing their second game in less than 24 hours, the Wild capitalized first; a floater from the blue line by Jake Middleton eluded Hellebuyck only 4:06 after the opening faceoff. “A sifter,” Middleton called it.

“We grinded really hard tonight,” Middleton said. “I don’t think our compete level is to be questioned tonight at all. Maybe a little sloppy at times, but the compete was absolutely there.”

That lead almost lasted the entire period.

With Hellebuyck on the bench for an extra attacker, the Jets won an offensive-zone faceoff to Mark Scheifele, who walked into a one-timer that sailed by Gustavsson with two seconds to go. Matt Boldy took the faceoff after winning a draw against Adam Lowry earlier in the period, but Lowry prevailed this time and Scheifele wound up just before Ryan Hartman slid for a shot block.

“We played it exactly how we wanted to actually,” Wild defenseman Faber said. “It was a perfect faceoff and a perfect shot. Really, it’s unfortunate. It’s almost like when two perfect plays happen like that back to back, it’s almost undefendable. It’s unfortunate. It’s a huge momentum swing.”

Winnipeg applied more pressure after the buzzer-beater, occasionally getting the Wild scrambling around their own zone for lengthy spells, but neither goalie budged in the second period.

Finally, Connor’s shot from the right faceoff circle during a 4-on-3 advantage in overtime ended the stalemate.

Late in regulation, Zach Bogosian was whistled for holding Scheifele’s stick in front of the Wild net. This was the Jets’ second power-play opportunity, while the Wild went 0-for-3.

“I made a poor decision 15 seconds left,” Middleton said. “I change and put my partner coming on the ice in a bad spot, and we end up down a man going into OT. Gus deserves a better outcome than that. He stood on his head for us all game.”

Gustavsson, who turned in another strong effort after backstopping the Wild to their season-opening, 3-2 victory over Columbus, finished with 33 saves.

Coach John Hynes said he saw “lots to build on” from the Wild.

“Coming into the game, you know you’re going to need a strong goaltending performance with the way the schedule was set up, and you were going to need to have a group that was mentally tough and pushed through what we needed to do, and for the most part, we were able to do that,” he said. “So, I think there’s lots to build on for sure.”