Alex Iafallo scored two goals and the Winnipeg Jets pulled away for a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Monday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Nino Niederreiter and Adam Lowry also scored for Winnipeg, which maintained the best record in the NHL with its 18th victory in 22 games to start the season. Neal Pionk tallied two assists.
Jake Middleton scored the lone goal for Minnesota.
Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 43 saves to improve to 15-2-0 this season.
Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson turned aside 28 shots but dropped to 9-4-3.
The Wild opened the scoring with 11:23 remaining in the first period.
Marcus Johansson threw a long shot at the net that was turned aside by Hellebuyck. However, the Jets goaltender gave up a big rebound toward the right circle, and Middleton punched it into the net for his fourth goal of the season.
Iafallo evened the score at 1-1 on a backhand goal with 9:57 to go in the first period. Rasmus Kupari picked up the lone assist.
Winnipeg pulled ahead 2-1 with 7:55 remaining in the second period. Niederreiter stung his former team when he got the puck in front of the net, turned from his forehand to his backhand and shoveled in his ninth goal of the season.
Iafallo struck again with his second goal of the game and his fourth of the season to give the Jets a 3-1 edge with 6:40 left in the third period. He parked in front of the net on a power play and redirected a shot from Pionk for the goal.
The play also marked Iafallo’s 100th career goal. The 30-year-old accomplished the feat in the same state where he played college hockey at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
Lowry registered an empty-net goal with 1:03 to play to seal the victory for Winnipeg. It was the fifth goal of the season for the Jets captain.
The Jets finished 1-for-3 on the power play. The Wild went 0-for-2 with a man advantage.
–Field Level Media
