Jets 5, Wild 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Winnipeg Jets ruined the party for the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night.
Jets center Andrew Copp and right wingers Drew Stafford and Blake Wheeler scored third-period goals to solidify a 5-1 victory over the Wild at MTS Centre.
Copp's fifth goal of the year came at 9:03, just 96 seconds after Mikael Granlund cut Winnipeg's lead to 2-1 with his 13th of the season. Stafford netted his 21st of the year at 12:55 on the power play.
Wheeler scored into an empty net, his 23rd of the season, at 17:16.
Minnesota (38-31-11) could have wrapped up the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, but that celebration will have to wait.
The Wild remain five points up on the Colorado Avalanche (39-36-4). The Avalanche, who sustained a costly defeat to the St. Louis Blues on Sunday night, need to win their final three regular-season contests while hoping the Wild drop their last two.
Minnesota lost its third game in a row.
Jets center Mark Scheifele, with his 27th, and right winger Chris Thorburn, with his sixth, gave the hosts a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. It was Thorburn's first goal since Dec. 15, a span of 47 games.
The Jets (32-39-8) snapped a four-game winless skid but are still guaranteed to finish in the Central Division basement and miss the playoffs for the fourth time in five years since moving north from Atlanta.
Winnipeg won four of five games between the divisional and geographical rivals.
Granlund scored on a rebound at 7:37 of the third period to pull the Wild to within a goal, digging out the puck from a scramble and flipping it past goalie Ondrej Pavelec.
Less than two minutes later, Copp collected the puck on the Minnesota side of the center line, raced in and slipped past defensemen Matt Dumba and Ryan Suter as if they were statues and then deked out Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk.
Pavelec, who stopped 28 shots, has earned the Jets at least a point in each of his past five starts, going 3-0-2 since March 20.
Dubnyk made 29 saves for the visitors.
The Wild return to the Twin Cities to host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday and the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
The Jets wrap up the season in California this week, clashing with the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday, the San Jose Sharks on Thursday and the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
NOTES: The Wild played without F Ryan Carter (upper body), LW Thomas Vanek (upper body), D Jared Spurgeon (lower body) and LW Chris Porter (healthy scratch). ... The Jets were without RW JC Lipon (upper body), C Bryan Little (upper body), RW Anthony Peluso (upper body) and LW Brandon Tanev (healthy scratch). There is a slim chance Little, out since he took a hard, open-ice hit from Tampa Bay D Anton Stralman on Feb. 18, could return this week when the Jets finish the season with three games in California. ... Winnipeg RW Blake Wheeler (Plymouth), D Mark Stuart (Rochester) and D Dustin Byfuglien (Roseau) all hail from Minnesota. ... Minnesota LW Erik Haula had his career-high, 10-game point streak (five goals, six assists) snapped Friday in a 3-2 loss to Detroit. It was the longest active point streak in the league. ... Wild LW Zach Parise, 31, is still one goal shy of 300 for his 11-year NHL career.