Roughly 19 hours after stepping off the ice following a dominant 3-1 home victory over the league-leading Colorado Avalanche, the Winnipeg Jets were right back at it Sunday afternoon.
Taking on the red-hot St. Louis Blues, the Jets came out firing, scoring the game’s first two goals in the opening frame before shutting things down in the third period for a 3-2 home win, pulling to within four points of the final wild card playoff spot.
Photo by Danny Truong
“It feels good,” said Eric Comrie, who won his fifth-straight game. “Once again, I just try and do my job once my name gets called. Just trying to be ready whenever I get my chance, and I feel good right now. Switching to the white cage has been good so far, so I like that.”
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Haydn Fleury found his first goal in 817 days – his first as a member of the Jets – to open the scoring just two-and-a-half minutes in. Picking up the puck and walking into the Blues’ zone, Fleury ripped home a wrist shot past Canadian Olympian goaltender Jordan Binnington for the early 1-0 lead.
Then, it was Mark Scheifele, whose solo effort gave the hosts a two-goal lead six minutes later. Picking up the puck off a bobbled play by the Blues on the Jets’ blueline, Scheifele cut in to the St. Louis goal and fired his 31st of the year into the net past Binnington for the 2-0 lead.
After Winnipeg saw two unsuccessful power plays in the first period, the teams exchanged minors in the middle stanza, but neither was able to capitalize on the man advantage. The second period as a whole was a whole lot of nothing for either club.
The Blues extended their shot lead to 15-10, but remained trailing the Jets entering the third.
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Two of the league’s very best teams since the Olympic break (12-3-3 combined), St. Louis entered the third period with a seven-game point scoring streak on the line. And they struck almost immediately, with Dalibor Dvorsky tapping home a three-on-one rush up-ice, to bring the Blues to within a goal of Winnipeg.
But the Jets did not turn over.
It was Kyle Connor – who earlier saw Scheifele score his 31st of the year – who capitalized on a delayed Blues penalty, scoring on a six-on-five on a breakaway feed from Morgan Barron, restoring Winnipeg’s two-goal cushion.
With Binnington on the bench for the extra attacker, the Blues found a way to get one back. It was Dylan Holloway who jammed home a net front scramble with 50 seconds remaining in the game.
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But that was as close as the Blues would come, dropping their first game in regulation in eight tries.
Comrie played spectacularly in goal for the Jets again, earning another win while turning aside 29 of St. Louis’ 31 shots on goal. Binnington made 13 saves for the Blues.
“We’re a good team. We have a lot of talent in this room,” Comrie said.
“We have maybe the best first line in the locker room. We have an unbelievable d-corps. Morrissey is one of the best defensemen, if not the best defenseman in NHL. We have Scheif, KC, we have the world’s best goalie by far in Connor Hellebuyck. We have a really good team in this room. We have a lot of confidence in this room. We have a great coaching staff. We trust everyone in this room. We just know that we’re going to go out there and give us the best foot forward. We have a very veteran team, and we’re confident that we can get into the playoffs.”
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Next up for Winnipeg is the final test of the eight-game homestand, as the Nashville Predators roll into town for a 7:00 PM central affair on Tuesday night. That game will be another battle between Central Division playoff hopefuls, as just one point currently separate the two clubs in the standings.
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