During the third, the Wild’s execution on a season-high 44 shots remained off.
Meanwhile, Winnipeg tacked on an insurance goal on the power play (1-for-3) on Iafallo’s second of the night at 13:20; Hermantown’s Neal Pionk assisted on fellow Minnesota Duluth alum Iafallo’s goal and Niederreiter’s. Adam Lowry buried an empty-netter with 1:03 to go. The Wild power play went 0-for-2.
“That’s what happens when you play good teams and they have a lead, that they’re going to make it hard for you to then generate offense,” Hynes said. “They don’t need to score another goal. They need to keep it out of their net, and they did a good job.”
The Jets (18-4) widened their lead over the Wild to six points. Wins earlier in the night by the Devils and Hurricanes moved the Wild (13-4-4) from second to fourth.
Kirill Kaprizov returned after he was sidelined on Saturday vs. the Flames following a knee-on-knee hit from the Oilers’ Drake Caggiula last Thursday, but Kaprizov went pointless for only the fourth time this season.
Like when they fell 2-1 to Dallas on Nov. 16 in another division test, the Wild aren’t at full strength, with Mats Zuccarello and Marat Khusnutdinov still out and Jakub Lauko not playing in the third period because of a lower-body injury, but they were much more cohesive to start their rematch with Winnipeg.