Coming off a rough outing in Utah, the Winnipeg Jets needed to bring their best effort to slow down the hottest team in hockey.
Mission accomplished.
The Jets suffocated the St. Louis Blues Monday night, allowing just 15 shots on goal in a 3-1 win as Winnipeg picked up their 53rd win of the season to set a new franchise record.
“Everybody kinda looked at each other and got up for this one,” said Jets forward Kyle Connor. “We just embraced the moment and I thought, top to bottom, we kinda took the flow of the game early, and liked what I saw. We had a lot of zone time, a lot of pucks to the cage, and just kinda stuck with it.
“Just stay persistent and found a way to come through.”
Morgan Barron opened the scoring for the Jets in the second period. The Blues tied the game only five minutes later, but Alex Iafallo scored seven minutes into the third to take the lead back before Adam Lowry notched an empty-netter in the dying seconds.
“That was a really solid 60 minutes of going out in five-man units and outbattling and getting zone time on the opposition,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “Everybody kinda figured out after the first period who their matchups were, who they were going head-to-head, and I thought all four lines won their matchups.”
The victory ended the Blues’ 12-game win streak and gave the Jets a five-point cushion atop the Central Division ahead of the Dallas Stars with only four games left in the regular season.
The Jets held the Blues to just shot three shots on goal in the first period and only four shots in the final frame.
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“I think that’s how we want to play,” said Barron. “Obviously, that’s a really good team in transition and I think we kinda knew when we’re at the top of our game, we’re able to stimy that the best we could, and I thought our D (defence) just gapped up really nicely and the forwards tracked back really well.”
The victory gives the Jets 110 points, just four points away from the franchise record of 114 points they set in the 2017-2018 season.
Neither team found the back of the net in a fairly uneventful opening period, though Winnipeg controlled play for most of the 20 minutes, outshooting the Blues 8-3 and out-attempting St. Louis 31-8.
Winnipeg got on the board with 2:34 gone in the second period. Barron made a nice play at the Jets’ blue line to disrupt Mathieu Joseph and started skating up the ice before Josh Morrissey got to the loose puck and chipped it ahead.
Barron fought off Joseph to win the race to the puck and continued to ward him off as he took the puck to the net and beat Joel Hofer blocker-side to make it 1-0 Jets.
The lead held for just under five minutes before St. Louis answered back. The Blues won puck battle along the boards that led to Robert Thomas having the puck in the corner below the goal line. He held it for a moment before finding Pavel Buchnevich in the slot, whose one-timer went off the post and in to tie the game at the 7:27 mark.
Each team had a failed power play in the period as it stayed tied 1-1 through 40 minutes. Each team managed to get eight shots on goal in the middle frame.
Winnipeg regained the lead at the 7:05 mark of the third period thanks to their top line. Buchnevich turned it over to Connor in the Blues’ end before Connor took it to the slot and whipped a shot that Hofer stopped but Iafallo immediately banged home the rebound to make it 2-1.
After the Jets iced the puck with 2:02 remaining, Hofer went to the bench for an extra attacker. Winnipeg had a great chance to seal it with about 40 seconds to go but Mason Appleton hit the side of the empty net, giving the Blues an extra life but they couldn’t take advantage of it before Lowry scored to clinch the win with 8.5 seconds left.
Hellebuyck only had to make 14 saves to secure his 44th victory of the season to tie his career-high.
Nikolaj Ehlers missed a second straight game, while Colin Miller sat out with an illness.
The Stars will host Vancouver Tuesday night before the Jets and Stars meet in Texas on Thursday in a game that very well could decide who wins the Central.
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