Going into Thursday night’s showdown with the Blues in St. Louis, the Winnipeg Jets knew they had no room for error.
If they wanted to make the playoffs, this was a game they absolutely had to have.
Mission accomplished as the Jets overcame a bit of a slow start and held on for a 3-2 win to keep their still slim post-season hopes alive.
After giving up the first marker, the Jets struck for three straight goals and had a key penalty kill in the final two minutes for their third straight victory.
The Jets surrendered a power play goal in the first period but were perfect on their next four penalty kills.
“It was called upon a bunch,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey. “And thought it did a good job. We gave up the one there in the first but after that, came up big, and some key moments in the game. We did a good job.”
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“Hats off to our penalty kill,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “I know we gave up one early, but our penalty kill was real solid in the second and the third there where it really needed to be.”
The Jets recorded a season-high 16 shots on goal in the first period.
The road victory snaps a streak of 11 straight games between the two that were won by the home team. The Jets had lost in their last four straight trips to the Show Me State.
“I think all-in-all it was a real good road game in a building that’s been tough for us.” Arniel said.
Morrissey, Alex Iafallo and Jonathan Toews had the goals for Winnipeg. Mark Scheifele registered a pair of assists to give him 99 points on the season as he moved past Ilya Kovalchuk for the second most points in a season in franchise history. He’s now just one back of the record held by Marian Hossa.
The win temporarily moved the Jets past the San Jose Sharks within just two points of the final playoff spot with four games left. The Nashville Predators lost to Utah on Thursday, while San Jose and Los Angeles both had late starts.
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“There’s no quit in our group,” said Morrissey. “We’ve been competing and battling really hard since the Olympic break and clawing to try and get back into this race and into a playoff spot. Obviously, there’s a lot of work left but all we can do is try to basically win every night here as we close this stretch out.”
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The Blues got off to the better start, taking advantage of the game’s first power play.
St. Louis cycled the puck around the Winnipeg end, leading to Robert Thomas briefly losing the handle on the puck. As he went to retrieve it along the boards, two penalty killers converged on him, freeing up space for Dylan Holloway.
Thomas got to the puck first and slid a backhand pass through his own legs to Holloway, who took a moment to gather the puck before firing it past Connor Hellebuyck at the 4:56 mark.
At one point, the Blues had a 10-4 edge in shots on goal, but over the final 11:39, Winnipeg outshot the home side 12-2 and tied the game in the process.
Scheifele carried the puck into the Blues’ end down the right wing before a centring pass went off a defender and into the other corner. Haydn Fleury got to it first and knocked it to Scheifele behind the net, who found a hard-driving Iafallo cutting down the lane for his 13th of the season at the 9:24 mark.
The assist for Scheifele was his 98th point of the season, setting a new standard for points in a season in the Jets 2.0 era, eclipsing the 97 points that Kyle Connor had last season.
St. Louis came oh-so-close to regaining the lead with roughly six minutes to go when Holloway undressed Hellebuyck with a great deke but as he went to slide it into the open net, Morrissey got his stick across the goal line to prevent the goal.
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Moments later, Brad Lambert drew a penalty on the Blues with a great net-drive but the Jets couldn’t convert on the power play, though they did get five shots on goal during the two minute minor penalty.
St. Louis had two power plays in the second but the score stayed tied 1-1 deep into the second but not long after a penalty to Dylan DeMelo expired, the Jets took their first lead of the night.
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Winnipeg’s top line had the puck humming around the St. Louis zone, leading to Jacob Bryson getting the puck at the left point. He floated a shot on goal through some traffic that Jordan Binnington made a meal out of, coughing up a huge rebound that Morrissey chipped into the net for his 14th of the season at the 14:11 mark.
Just 1:40 later, Winnipeg doubled their lead.
Gabriel Vilardi tracked down a loose puck behind the St. Louis net, bringing it around to Binnington’s right before giving it to Cole Perfetti. Perfetti spotted Toews wide open on the other side of the ice, so he rapidly got Toews the puck for a one-timer into an open net for his 11th of the season and second in as many games.
Shots on goal in the second favoured Winnipeg 11-7 as they took the 3-1 lead to the third.
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The Blues found themselves on another power play early in the third when Neal Pionk was called for tripping but once again Winnipeg was able to get the kill.
St. Louis had possession of the puck for much of the third but Winnipeg did a great job of preventing shots from getting through to Hellebuyck, allowing just two shots on goal through the first 13 minutes of the final frame before the Blues cut the lead to one.
Moments after Binnington made a fine stop on Iafallo, the Blues broke the puck up the ice. Holloway won a puck battle with Pionk at the Jets’ blue line, sliding it over to Jordan Kyrou for an odd-man rush as Connor and Scheifele were slow to get back into the play.
As he skated deep into the Winnipeg end, Kyrou sent the puck over to Colton Parayko, who wristed it past Hellebuyck to make it 3-2 with exactly seven minutes to play.
The Blues had a great look to tie the game off the ensuing faceoff when Dalibor Dvorsky got free and skated in on a partial break before whipping a shot wide of the net.
With 2:34 to go, Morrissey caught Jimmy Snuggerud in the face with a high stick, giving the Blues their fifth power play chance of the game and it became a 6-on-4 with 90 seconds remaining when Binnington went to the bench for an extra attacker.
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St. Louis struggled tremendously to get anything set up, generating no shots before the final horn sounded. In fact, the Parayko goal was the Blues’ final shot on goal of the night as they managed just three in the entire third period and one total shot in their final four power play chances.
That meant Hellebuyck had to make 20 saves to earn the win.
Winnipeg will need to keep on winning if they want to have a shot at the wild card, and that quest continues at home Saturday evening against the Flyers. The puck drops just after 6 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB beginning at 4 p.m.
