The Winnipeg Jets continued their recent domination of the St. Louis Blues Thursday night, riding an early lead and great goaltending to a 5-2 win in Missouri.
Pierre-Luc Dubois opened the scoring late in the first after Mark Scheifele found him in front of the net, extending Dubois’ team-leading point streak to seven games.
Winnipeg wasted no time extending the lead in the second period as Kyle Connor beat Thomas Greiss just 27 seconds into the middle frame to make it 2-0.
Blake Wheeler made it 3-0 on the power play just a few minutes later as the Jets seemed poised to run away with it.
Robert Thomas got the Blues on the board late in the second to give his team a pulse as St. Louis started to turn the shot clock in their favour.
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The pivotal moment came about seven minutes into the third. Connor Hellebuyck made a string of saves as the Blues started to mount a charge, but found himself out of position as Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly had the puck behind the net.
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St. Louis could not convert, and just moments later Dubois scored his second of the game from a bad angle on a shot that Greiss absolutely needed to stop.
Josh Leivo made it 4-2 just past the halfway point of the period, but that’s as close as the Blues would get.
With just under two minutes to go, Cole Perfetti scored into the empty net to put a bow on the win, Winnipeg’s fifth straight over the Blues and seventh win in their last eight meetings.
The Jets managed just ten shots in the final two periods but their goaltending was far superior to that of the Blues. Hellebuyck made 29 saves while Greiss allowed four goals on 19 shots.
One negative from the game for Winnipeg was the loss of Saku Maenalanen, who played only 71 seconds before leaving with an injury.
The Jets will try to get their first four-game win streak Friday night when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks. Pregame coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. on 680 CJOB with puck drop just after 7:30.
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