ST. PAUL, Minn. _ Too often this season the Wild failed to take care of their own business.
That's why they're out of a playoff spot with two games to go.
But facing their grimmest crossroads to date _ win or be knocked out of the race _ the Wild responded by shrugging off the Jets, 5-1, Tuesday in front of 18,590 at Xcel Energy Center to reach 83 points.
And yet the effort might not have been enough to keep the team in contention.
Colorado held a two-goal lead on the Oilers in the second period when the Wild skated off the ice, and a win in any fashion by the Avalanche would have eliminated Minnesota _ its first playoff miss in seven years.
The players, however, did their best to avoid that fate, using a three-goal, first-period outburst led by winger Zach Parise in his return to the lineup to sweep the five-game season series against Winnipeg.
Parise was back in action after sitting out the previous four games with a lower-body injury, and the Wild's leading scorer made his presence felt early.
Just 9 minutes, 4 seconds into the frame, the puck bounced off Parise's stick and trickled down the back of Jets goalie Eric Comrie's back and into the net. The play was set up by a centering feed from defenseman Greg Pateryn, with the rebound popping out to Parise.
Only 3:12 later, Parise put the Wild up 2-0 when he caught up to his own pass _ which was initially intended for center Eric Staal _ and buried it by Comrie for his first multi-goal game of the season. Parise is just two goals shy of 30 for the seventh time in his career.
And with 1:52 to go in the first, the Wild added a third tally when center Victor Rask's shot from near the goal line slipped through Comrie to snap Rask's 15-game goalless drought.
It was just the second time the Wild scored three first-period at home this season and first since Feb.12 against the Philadelphia Flyers.
That game finished a 5-4 loss for the Wild despite their strong start, but the team didn't slip up against the Jets.
At 10:29 of the second, center Joel Eriksson Ek tacked on a fourth goal on a slick top-shelf shot off the rush put in motion by linemates Luke Kunin and Jordan Greenway. The goal set a career-high for Eriksson Ek with seven, eclipsing the six he scored in 2017-18.
Winnipeg spoiled goalie Devan Dubnyk's shutout bid with 3:47 left in the period with a short-handed goal, a backhander by defenseman Jacob Trouba that hit off Dubnyk and rolled into the net. Only seconds earlier, Dubnyk made a slick save on captain Blake Wheeler.
This was the fourth short-handed goal allowed by the Wild. Their power play went 0 for 2, while the Jets were also 0 for 2.
Dubnyk was air-tight the rest of the way, racking up 32 saves.
At the other end, Comrie gave up one more goal _ a dribbler by winger Marcus Foligno at 15:11 of the third. Comrie, who was making his first start of the season in place of No.1 Connor Hellebuyck after Hellebuyck played the night before in Chicago, totaled 23 saves.
The win snapped a three-game slide on home ice and was just the third victory during the Wild's last 15 in St. Paul. Five goals were the most the team scored since it also registered five March 16.
