Dubnyk, Wild edge Jets
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 15 saves, and a video review again helped the Minnesota Wild, who beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 on Wednesday night.
Minnesota center Mikko Koivu scored his third goal of the season, defenseman Jonas Brodin added his second and Zach Parise finished with an empty-netter for Minnesota (10-7-2), which won for the second time in five games. Dubnyk continued his stellar season as the Wild earned another close win against its Central Division rivals.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced for Winnipeg (9-11-2), which has lost four games in a row, all on the road. Blake Wheeler scored his seventh of the season for the Jets.
Eight of the previous 12 games between the two teams had been a one-goal finish.
Winnipeg thought it had tied the game with 10 minutes left after Wheeler tipped home a wide shot from defenseman Tobias Enstrom. A video review showed Nikolaj Ehlers entered the zone offside, negating the goal.
Minnesota beat Boston 1-0 last week after a video review showed a Bruins' player offside.
Brodin followed shortly with a shot that deflected off the stick of Jets forward Brandon Tanev and past Hellebuyck.
Wheeler's next attempt counted. Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien's big shot from the point was stopped by Dubnyk, but Wheeler was there to tip the rebound between the goaltender's legs.
Dubnyk has allowed 12 goals in his past 11 games. He entered the night ranked third in the NHL in goals-against average (1.59) and save percentage (.949). The 6-foot-6 goaltender has kept Minnesota alive during a November stretch in which they've scored 14 goals in 10 games.
Scoring proved troublesome again, but Koivu scored for the first time in 11 games. Jason Zucker chased down a dump-in pass behind the Jets' goal. Zucker and linemate Mikael Granlund worked for possession before Zucker knocked the puck to the front of the net where Koivu was wide open and snapped a shot past Hellebuyck.
NOTES: Minnesota activated D Marco Scandella from long-term injured reserve. Scandella missed 10 games with a high-ankle sprain. ... Winnipeg activated F Drew Stafford from injured reserve and reassigned F Quinton Howden to the American Hockey League. Stafford missed 15 games with an upper-body injury. The Jets also placed D Tyler Myers on injured reserve, retroactive to Nov. 11, with a lower-body injury. ... Winnipeg has one more game left -- on Friday in Nashville -- during its season-high, five-game road trip. The Jets lost the first three games of the trip. At the end of the trip, they will have played 10 of the past 13 games on the road. ... Minnesota started the game leading the NHL in fewest goals allowed with 35 given up in 18 games. The team had allowed 16 goals in its previous 12 games. ... The Wild wore special orange hunting-themed jerseys for warm-ups on Wednesday as part of a collaboration with Gander Mountain stores to promote hunting and hockey in Minnesota. The jerseys will be autographed and auctioned off to benefit Pheasants Forever's habitat protection efforts.