Wild chase Pavelec with 3 goals in 1st period

The Minnesota Wild stuck three goals past overmatched Winnipeg Jets netminder Ondrej Pavelec in the first period of Sunday's game, forcing the typically below-average Jets workhorse from the game.

Nino Niederreiter opened the scoring for Minnesota with a lovely backhand goal, and Wild forward Zach Parise - playing his first game since sustaining a concussion a couple of weeks ago - scored the latter two goals. 

There aren't many goaltenders who have consistently managed below average results and still been trusted to start as many games as Pavelec has over the past five seasons. The Jets started him Sunday in the second leg of back-to-back games - a misguided decision even when your goaltender is elite, which Pavelec most certainly is not.

Though Pavelec struggled enormously Sunday, he's been hot to start the 2014-15 campaign. In 16 appearances going into Sunday's contest, the 27-year-old puck stopper had managed a 7-6-1 record and a gaudy .928 save percentage.

Pavelec has been replaced by Michael Hutchinson.