Jets Catch Fire in Minnesota: Scheifele, Toews Lead Winnipeg to Fourth Straight Win
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Winnipeg Jets are heating up, and Thursday night in Minnesota, they didn’t just win - they made a statement.
Led by Mark Scheifele’s four-point performance (one goal, three assists), Winnipeg rolled to a 6-2 victory over the Wild at Grand Casino Arena, extending their win streak to four games. Not bad for a team that just a couple weeks ago was mired in an 11-game skid.
Now? They’re flying.
“I think we've just been playing better hockey,” Scheifele said postgame. “Everyone’s firing on all cylinders.”
And that’s no exaggeration. Six different Jets found the back of the net, including Jonathan Toews, who hit a major milestone with his 900th NHL point. The veteran center opened the scoring during a 5-on-3 power play late in the first period, cashing in at the right post after a rebound bounced his way.
“He’s really playing his game,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “Nine hundred points, that’s obviously amazing. He’s feeling it, which is awesome.”
Toews’ resurgence has been a quiet but crucial part of Winnipeg’s turnaround. After needing some time to find his legs earlier in the season, he’s now riding a four-game goal streak and looking every bit the player who’s logged over 1,100 NHL games.
The first period ended with a bang - or rather, a flurry - as the Jets scored twice in the final 11 seconds. Tanner Pearson made it 2-0, cleaning up a rebound after Dylan DeMelo kept the puck alive at the blue line. Then, just eight seconds later, Josh Morrissey hammered home a one-timer off a faceoff win by Toews, pushing the lead to 3-0 with only three seconds left in the frame.
“We’re working for our bounces and creating that with hard work,” defenseman Logan Stanley said. “It’s definitely a good feeling coming in here being up... maybe not a good first period, but a good end of the period.”
The Wild tried to claw back early in the second. Danila Yurov cut the deficit to 3-1 with a sharp one-timer from the right hash marks - a promising moment for the young forward, who continues to show a high hockey IQ in all three zones.
But the Jets weren’t about to let momentum slip.
Stanley responded midway through the second, roofing a slap shot under the crossbar from the left circle after keeping the puck in at the blue line. Then came a power-play tally from Gabriel Vilardi, who buried a rebound off the end boards to make it 5-1. Scheifele capped off the scoring spree with a laser from the right circle, converting a slick feed from Alex Iafallo after Kyle Connor sprung him out of the penalty box.
“What I really liked tonight was that there were six goals from six different people,” Arniel said. “We’ve been struggling to score goals, but in the last probably three weeks here it’s starting to go the right way for us.”
For the Wild, it was a frustrating night. Jesper Wallstedt allowed six goals on 20 shots before being replaced to start the third by Filip Gustavsson, who turned aside all nine shots he faced. Marcus Johansson added a late goal to make it 6-2, but by then, the damage was done.
“It’s disappointing. No one feels it more than the players,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said.
“It wasn’t a game where you got dominated or outplayed... but attention to detail matters. And tonight, we didn’t have that.”
Minnesota’s now dropped three straight (0-2-1) and five of their last six (1-3-2), and while they’re still in the Central Division’s top three, the cushion is thinning.
“It just seemed like one of those games,” said Wild forward Marcus Foligno. “Everything was kind of going in... and when you were hoping to kind of get a breath, you couldn’t.”
Meanwhile, Winnipeg is trending in the opposite direction - and fast. After a brutal stretch that saw them go winless in 11, they’ve flipped the script with a balanced attack, solid goaltending from Connor Hellebuyck (32 saves), and a locker room that’s clearly locked in.
Quick Hits:
- Toews now has 379 goals and 522 assists in 1,113 NHL games.
- Scheifele is riding a five-game point streak, with three goals and seven assists in that span.
- Wild defenseman David Spacek made his NHL debut, logging 11:59 of ice time.
The Jets are back in the mix, and if this version of Winnipeg sticks around, the rest of the Central better take notice.