Scheifele, Connor lead Jets to 2-1 win over Blues for 2-0 series lead
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Mark Scheifele had a goal and assist, Kyle Connor scored his second consecutive game-winner in the third period, and the Winnipeg Jets beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Monday night for a 2-0 lead in their opening-round playoff series.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 21 shots to help the Jets take a 2-0 playoff series lead for the first time in three seasons. The past two years, Winnipeg won the first game and then lost the next four to be eliminated.
“I don’t know if it’s a mental boost, but we’re aware of it coming into it,” Connor said. “I think over the past couple of years, this group is motivated.
“We talked about it over the offseason, we preached about it all year, it’s in this room. Everybody needs to be better, bear down, it’s dragging everybody into the fight. Yeah it’s a second win, but we’re not resting here. We’ve got a long ways to go.”
Taking a 2-0 lead in the series wasn’t cause for celebration by Jets coach Scott Arniel.
“This is all (about) Game 3 now,” Arniel said. “We’ll do our postgame work tomorrow or over the next couple of days here. The guys know how hard it is, now.”
Rookie Jimmy Snuggerud scored his first playoff goal and Jordan Binnington had 20 saves for the eighth-seeded Blues.
“Winnipeg has made one more play than us. Both games,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “Shots are dead even, so they’re just making one more play, and their best players are making them.”
St. Louis hosts Game 3 on Thursday.
Connor made it 2-1 at 1:43 of the third period after getting a feed out front by Cole Perfetti at the side of the net.
Scheifele escaped Blues defenseman Cam Fowler behind the St. Louis net and sent the puck to Perfetti to feed Connor.
“Scheif is so smart when it comes to that, body positioning, getting inside a guy or just making a little poke on the puck,” Perfetti said. “And he was able to get the guy’s stick and then make just a little poke. That was all that he needed for the puck to come to me and create that little bit of space.”
The Blues got their fourth straight power play six minutes later, but Winnipeg’s defenders killed it.
The Blues continued their hitting ways from the first game’s 5-3 loss and the Jets didn’t back down.
Within the first minute of Game 2, St. Louis skaters delivered five hits. Winnipeg responded with a pair of their own.
Jets 6-foot-7 defenseman Logan Stanley later crushed Jordan Kyrou into the boards. The forward carefully went to the bench with about seven minutes remaining in the period.
Blues captain Brayden Schenn, who had seven hits in the first period of Game 1, skated across the ice and flew into Jets captain Adam Lowry. He finished with four hits in the period.
“After the game you go home and you feel sore, but it’s a good sore, and a good tired,” said Jets defenseman Luke Schenn, who had seven hits. “You know, when you come away with the win, it obviously doesn’t hurt as much.”
Scheifele scored on a great effort to get around a St. Louis defender and then fired a backhand from the slot. The puck bounced off Snuggerud into the net with 3:28 left.
Winnipeg didn’t capitalize on two power plays, but the Blues cashed in on their first one.
Snuggerud made up for the earlier bad bounce by sending the puck high over Hellebuyck’s blocker side on the man advantage with 2 seconds remaining in the period to make it 1-1.
Montgomery flipped Snuggerud and left-winger Jake Neighbours for the game, moving the former University of Minnesota star from the second line to the top one with center Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich. He said the motive was producing more offense.
Both teams tallied 16 hits each in the first period, and the Blues outshot the Jets 10-8.
St. Louis came up empty on two power plays in the second period and both teams fired seven shots at the goalies.
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