The Wild seemed to have more 5-on-5 chances than the Jets but still found themselves in the losing column after a 6-3 loss in Winnipeg.

WINNIPEG - A win by the Wild would've had them in a tie for a playoff spot in the Western Conference instead, they remain two points out following a 6-3 loss to the Jets.

It was only the third time this season the Wild entered the game three games over .500 and hopefully won't turn into the same result as a previous streak that happened after the Wild lost to the Winnipeg Jets after being three games over .500.

The Wild entered Winnipeg back on December 30th 7-1-0 in their last eight games and 11-3-0 under head coach John Hynes. They lost to the Jets on the road and lost three of their players to injuries. Kirill Kaprizov, Filip Gustavsson, and Vinni Lettieri all got hurt and the team proceeded to go 2-8-1 in their next 11 games. 

Minnesota eventually got healthy and started playing better hockey again. But tonight the game started off the same way. Ryan Hartman received boos every time he touched the puck, Jake Middleton got in another fight, and both teams were checking everything and anything that was moving. 

A penalty by the Wild halfway in the first period seemed to be the game-changer. But Declan Chisholm's penalty didn't come until after Matt Boldy turned the puck over in the defensive zone and Jake Lucchini failed to clear an attempt off the glass. Winnipeg kept it in the zone and drew a penalty. 

“I thought it was a great start for sure, and then they get the power play goal and obviously on the road, there’s momentum swings, right So I thought they generated a little momentum from that and then they scored shortly thereafter," Wild head coach John Hynes said on the start. "I thought in general other than that little span, I thought we were pretty good.”

It was Chisholm's first game against his old team, his third game with his new team, and his fifth game of the season. Gabriel Vilardi who entered the game with two goals and three assists in his last two games, got the Jets on the board halfway through the first period after the puck banked off his skate and in.

Mason Appleton, who was skating in his 301st NHL game, scored just 14 seconds later giving the Jets a 2-0 lead. 

"Yeah, when he went around. Obviously when you give up one you don’t want to give them too much momentum," Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said on Appleton's goal. "I don’t know, when I came across, I didn’t see the release and it was in. It’s a good team and they can shut it down from there. So not easy coming back, but I loved the way that the guys battled til the end trying to get something going."

The Wild entered the second period down 2-0 on the scoresheet but they also entered the period down two defensemen.

Zach Bogosian attempted to hit Neal Pionk late in the first period in the corner and struggled to get off the ice. He was later hit by Josh Morrissey's point shot and didn't return for the rest of the game with an upper-body injury. 

Hynes did not have an update after the game on Bogosian's status other than he knew he had to miss the rest of the game. It seems like it is maybe a shoulder injury, just based on the hit.

Middleton was still in the box after his fight with Logan Stanley so the Wild started the second period with only four defensemen. Winnipeg took advantage and scored just 1:54 into the period when Kyle Connor got his 20th goal of the season coming off the rush. 

On a semi-questionable penalty from Vilardi on Hartman, the Wild went to the power play for the second time in the game. After the first unit stayed on the ice for over a minute and 30 seconds, Marco Rossi caught a pass from Chisholm and ripped one far-side past Laurent Brossoit who did not cut the angle off very well. 

The Wild got their chance late in the second period after getting another power play but could not capitalize on the man advantage. The Jets got two chances in the third period and scored on one of them. 

"Yeah, I think when we scored, we were thinking, ok, now it’s our turn," Marco Rossi, who scored two goals on the night, said. "We were pushing. That was good. But like I said, we got scored on. That's always hard when you pressure them so hard, and they score. It's kind of like a punch in the face moment. But it's important for us to stick to it and pick out good stuff from the game."

Vilardi, who scored on the Jets' first power play, picked up his third point of the night after tipping home Josh Morrissey's point shot. The Wild eventually picked up two goals in under two minutes but they didn't come until after Sean Monahan picked up his 18th goal of the season. 

Nino Niederreiter picked up his 14th of the season and third against the Wild this year when he calmly deposited the puck into the empty net on a breakaway. 

Overall the Wild actually controlled most of the game based on the numbers and analytics but were just not rewarded with the win or a few extra goals. 

“I thought we generated quite a bit. I think we certainly should have had more goals than we did tonight," Hynes said. "Unfortunately, they didn’t go in but I thought the chance generation, expected goals, chances for, o-zone time, I think lots of those things were in favor but didn’t get in tonight. So I think we gotta bear down. I think the process to get to those chances was good, but when you get that many looks and you’re that attacking offensively, you gotta find a way to get to the back of the net.”

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Wild finished the night with 4.4 expected goals to the Jets 3.61 in all situations of the game. They had a total of 3.28 expected goals in the first two periods to the Jets 1.64 but yet found themselves down 3-1. 

“I certainly think the last two nights we played two top teams. I think when you look at expected goals and offense at a 5-on-5 perspective, we’ve been the better teams both games," Hynes said. "Last night we scored 4 5-on-5 goals and then we had the power plays then tonight it didn’t go in. Like I said, I think there’s lots of good in our game right now. Unfortunately tonight for as much as you can control the play and generate those things, we gotta bear down when we have open nets or are in scoring areas. We’re getting to those areas but tonight it didn’t go in for us.”