Jets dominate Wild to take 2-0 series lead

Paul Stastny, Andrew Copp and Patrik Laine scored in the third period to propel the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Friday.

The win gave the Jets a 2-0 lead in the first round of their NHL Western Conference best-of-seven playoff series.

Winnipeg won 3-2 on Wednesday, with Game 3 going Sunday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Jets defenceman Tyler Myers had a goal in the second period and also picked up an assist. Rookie forward Jack Roslovic, replacing injured veteran Mathieu Perreault, had a pair of assists.

Zach Parise had his second goal of the series when he deflected a Mikko Koivu shot past Connor Hellebuyck to end the goalie’s shutout bid with 45 seconds left in the game.

The goal came on the power play after Jets forward Brandon Tanev was called for hooking with 59 seconds left.

Hellebuyck made 16 saves. Devan Dubnyk stopped 39 shots for Minnesota.

The Wild had more jump early in the scoreless first period, surpassing the four-shot total they had in Wednesday’s opening frame by going 5-0 by the five-minute mark. That included three shots at Hellebuyck during a power play with Myers in the box for tripping.

Dubnyk didn’t have to stop a Winnipeg shot until seven minutes had passed. The Jets then turned on a switch and had outshot the visitors 13-9 when the period ended, but many were from the outside.

Winnipeg got its first power play five minutes into the second period when Jets centre Mark Scheifele was tripped by Wild defenceman Jonas Brodin, but it wasn’t their shots with the man advantage that sparked the crowd.

Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien threw two big hits nine seconds apart, the first on Wild forward Mikael Granlund in front of the Winnipeg bench, the second a slam that rocked Koivu into the boards behind Hellebuyck.

Winnipeg only got one shot on goal on the power play, but the momentum carried on for Myers’s goal that made it 1-0 at 8:41.

Myers got the puck at the point in the Wild zone, made some moves to get around forward Jason Zucker and sent a sharp-angled shot past Dubnyk on the blocker side at 8:41 of the second period for the 1-0 lead.

Myers was dinged again for roughing forward Charlie Coyle 33 seconds after his goal, but the Jets kept the pressure on with some hustle and hits.

When the second period ended, Winnipeg had outshot the Wild 27-14 and were ahead 28-18 in hits.

Stastny and Copp scored 1:42 apart, with Byfuglien sending a backhand to the front of the net that Statsny slapped in at 7:42.

Copp made it 3-0 at 9:24 when he redirected in a Bryan Little shot. Laine fired in his second goal of the series from the right circle at 17:58.

The game ended with fists flying between a number of players.