WINNIPEG, Manitoba — No one on the Wild flung off their gloves for a fight.
Pushing after the play was uncommon, and even the shoving between whistles wasn't overt.
After getting shut out in a slugfest last week that included three fights and led to one suspension, the Wild didn't initiate Round 2 in its return to Winnipeg eight days later for a rematch.
But the team also didn't make a statement with its performance, getting crushed by the Central Division rival Jets, 6-3, on Wednesday in front of 12,527 at Canada Life Centre to split the season series 2-2.
In its last 10 games, the Wild has lost only twice, and both setbacks came courtesy the Jets.
Winnipeg's Mark Scheifele scored a natural hat trick, captain Blake Wheeler assisted on all three of those goals, and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck had 33 saves after a 27-save shutout vs. the Wild on Feb.8.
Ever since that 2-0 loss by the Wild, the reunion felt like the most intriguing date on the calendar.
An unpenalized hit by Winnipeg's Brenden Dillon on the Wild's Marcus Foligno in that game sparked two simultaneous fights and a third tussle broke out in the third period — the second of the night between Foligno and the Jets' Adam Lowry.
Foligno was suspended two games for kneeing Lowry during that confrontation, and his first game back in the lineup just so happened to be against Winnipeg.
But if any animosity lingered between the two sides, the action on the ice didn't show it.
And that business-like style helped the Wild take charge early, with the team snagging a much-deserved lead in the first period. A shot by captain Jared Spurgeon banked off Joel Eriksson Ek and sailed behind Hellebuyck at 10 minutes, 29 seconds for Eriksson Ek's 15th goal of the season and Spurgeon's third assist in the past two games.
That goal was part of a solid finish to the period by the Wild, which had 14 of the final 18 shots in the first. But that momentum didn't carry over to the second period. Instead, the Jets seized control.
Scheifele tied the game at 1 when he redirected in a Blake Wheeler pass at 11:20 after peeling away from traffic in front.
Then, with 12 seconds to go in the second, Scheifele scored on a shot from the half-wall on the power play. Wheeler also assisted on that goal, and Winnipeg finished 1 for 2 on the power play; the Wild blanked on its two looks.
Scheifele polished off his second hat trick of the season only 1:07 into the third period when he whacked in another setup from Wheeler.
After the hats were cleared off the ice, another Jets-themed celebration ensued — this time because Cole Perfetti capitalized on a deflection at 2:23.
The Wild finally responded when Mats Zuccarello scored from inside the left faceoff circle at 4:20, but Winnipeg added a fifth goal on a Kyle Connor breakaway at 10:02 of the third.
Dmitry Kulikov registered the Wild's league-leading 14th goal at 6-on-5 at 16:46 with Cam Talbot on the bench before the Jets Paul Stastny dumped the puck into the empty net with 2:10 to go. Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov assisted on Kulikov's goal, their second points of the game.
Talbot had 25 saves for the Wild, suffering his first loss in five starts.
