Game 2’s have not been kind to the Winnipeg Jets in their young history.
But trends are made to be broken as the Jets emerged from a tight, entertaining hockey game with a 2-1 Game 2 win over the St. Louis Blues to take a 2-0 series lead.
Going into Monday night’s game, the Jets had lost seven of nine Game 2’s in best-of-seven series, including their last three in a row.
But for the second straight contest Kyle Connor scored the game winning goal to break a third period deadlock to give the Jets the victory.
“Just came down to who wanted it more,” said Connor. “I thought that once we did get the go ahead goal, we did a great job of just kinda clogging up the middle, not allowing their ‘D’s’ to beat us up the ice and just playing good ‘D’ there.”
It’s the first time the Jets have won back-to-back playoff games since 2021 and it’s just the third time ever they’ve held a 2-0 series lead.
Mark Scheifele opened the scoring in the first period and also had an assist for the two-point night. The Blues lone goal came on the man advantage in the final two seconds of the first period for their third power play goal of the series.
“It’s just hard fought hockey,” Jets defenceman Luke Schenn said. “Our penalty kill did a better job tonight. Obviously, gave up one at the end of the first there which stung a little bit, but resilient and bounced back and then just stuck with it.”
The Jets recorded 14 blocked shots and 33 hits in the Game 2 triumph.
“Our compete level is where it needs to be for playoff hockey,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “It isn’t just our big guys, our big heavy guys. It has to be everybody. I thought our puck battles were real strong tonight. It started in the first period, on the walls, net fronts, off faceoffs. There was a lot of areas we were certainly a lot stronger.”
Just like in the series opener, the Jets took over the momentum in the third period and never let up.
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“We were just able to find that one and kinda able to hold on,” said Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo. “We were just able to kinda just get back to how we play. We just kinda got away from it a couple times there and Bucky (Connor Hellebuyck) made some big saves for us, but that third period we just felt confident.”
Jets defenceman Logan Stanley had a couple of huge hits, including a bone crushing check on Jordan Kyrou in the first period.
“It was a big hit,” DeMelo said. “Obviously, it was a big moment. He read the play well and finished strong. It was a big hit. That’s how you categorize it. We got up on the bench, crowd got into it. Anytime you get a chance to lay a hit on their top end guys or skill guys, we want to make it hard on them.”
It’s just the second time in the 1.0 era the Jets have won the first two games of a series on home ice.
The game opened with 5:44 of uninterrupted play as St. Louis looked to jump on the Jets early, forcing several turnovers in the Winnipeg end but they couldn’t beat Hellebuyck.
Radek Faksa took the game’s first penalty with 6:19 gone in the first but Winnipeg could not capitalize. The Jets got another power play with 6:39 to go in the opening period when Tyler Tucker was called for cross-checking but once again the Jets couldn’t cash in.
Moments after the penalty expired, Vlad Namestnikov made a great toe-drag around a Blues defender before setting up Mason Appleton back-door but he was robbed by Jordan Binnington.
Winnipeg finally cracked the code with 3:28 left in the first when Scheifele made his presence felt. He took a pass at the St. Louis blue line and drove along the boards, getting around Nick Leddy and charging to the net. His initial chance was denied but a back-checking Jimmy Snuggerud ran into Binnington as Scheifele went by, knocking the puck into the net.
The Blues’ rookie made amends in the dying seconds of the period. With DeMelo in the box for tripping, Snuggerud ripped a shot top-shelf on the power play with 1.7 seconds left to tie the game after 20 minutes.
Winnipeg got their penalty kill sorted out in the second, killing off a pair of minor penalties after the Blues scored on three of their first four power play looks in the series.
Neither team found the back of the net on seven shots each in the second, but early in the third, Winnipeg’s Game 1 hero struck again.
At the end of a long shift in the St. Louis end, Winnipeg worked the puck around the boards until it found its way to Scheifele below the goal line. He touched it over to Cole Perfetti at the side of the net before Perfetti found Connor in the slot for a one-timer that beat Binnington five-hole to restore Winnipeg’s lead at the 1:43 mark.
The Jets’ penalty kill rose to the challenge again near the midway point of the third after Schenn was called for roughing, and when his penalty elapsed he stepped out of the box and had an unlikely partial breakaway but he was unable to get a good shot on net.
Moments later, Binnington tried to play the puck around the boards in his own end but it wound up bouncing off Scheifele and right to the faceoff dot where Perfetti turned and fired a blind shot toward the open net but he missed wide.
The Blues pulled Binnington for an extra attacker with 2:17 to go in the third but they weren’t able to level the score as the Winnipeg crowd rose to its feet, cheering to the buzzer as their team held serve on home ice.
As mentioned, it’s the third time in franchise history that the Jets have won a game 2 in a best-of-seven series. The previous two times they won a game 2, they went on to win the series.
Hellebuyck made 21 saves to earn the win, including just five in the third period as the Jets, for the second game in a row, allowed very little in the final period en route to victory.
Binnington stopped 20 shots in defeat.
Game 3 goes Thursday night in St. Louis as the Jets go for the series stranglehold. It’s a late puck drop, listed as 8:30 p.m. but it will be more like 8:52 p.m. by the time the game actually starts thanks to television doubleheader obligations. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB will begin at 6 p.m.
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