ST. PAUL, Minn. _ It wasn't your typical Wild-Jets game.
Tight, yes, but not nasty and certainly not high-scoring despite the fact that Mark Scheifele was second in the NHL in scoring, Patrik Laine was tied for first in goals and Blake Wheeler and Dustin Byfuglien usually munch on the Wild for fun.
But in the latest rendition of the border rivalry, the Wild got the best of the Jets for the second time this season, beating them 3-1 at Xcel Energy Center.
The Wild got goals from Mikko Koivu and Jonas Brodin, an empty-netter from Zach Parise, two assists from Mikael Granlund and 15 saves from Devan Dubnyk to win for second time in five home games (2-3) and fourth time in the past 10 overall (4-5-1).
The win kept the Wild inside the top eight in the West and dropped the Jets to 0-4 on their five-game road trip.
The Wild were working on a stretch of four goals in nearly 14 periods at home when Koivu scored with 59 seconds left in the second period.
With coach Bruce Boudreau pretty much rolling four lines at 5-on-5, he finally tinkered by elevating Jason Zucker from the fourth line to the second and dropping down Tyler Graovac from the second to the fourth.
Instantly, the Wild extracted a goal.
After Zucker chipped the puck and then chased it down with a board-battle win, Zucker popped a loose puck out to the slot. Koivu corralled the bouncing pass and popped in his third goal of the season and first in 11 games. The assist by Zucker was his first point in 10 games. Granlund has at least a point in nine of his past 14 games.
The Jets went the final 13 minutes, 52 seconds in the period without a shot, although Nikolaj Ehlers and Laine each hit pipes.
Dubnyk was solid early, following up a first-period robbery on defenseman Josh Morrissey with a big stop in the opening seconds of the second period on Schiefele.
Zucker drew a power play for a chance for the Wild to make it 2-0 in the third period, but the Wild put forth a typically ugly, no-shot advantage. Less than a minute later, the Jets thought they tied the score when Wheeler redirected Toby Enstrom's shot by Dubnyk.
But for the second time in three home games, Boudreau challenged that the opponent should have been offside entering the zone. For the second time in three home games, he was correct for the same exact reason.
As Wheeler carried the puck in, Ehlers was offside because his skate was in the air as the puck crossed the blue line. The goal was overturned.
Granlund then drew a penalty from Morrissey, and this time, Brodin made it 2-0 on a deflected shot. It was Brodin's fifth career power-play goal and seventh point in 19 games this season after seven in 68 games last season.
But 25 seconds later, Jared Spurgeon was called for tripping, and 28 seconds after that, Wheeler this time scored a good goal to extend his point streak against Minnesota to eight games.
