Jets hold off Blues in Game 2 of Western 1st Round

WINNIPEG — Kyle Connor broke a tie 1:43 into the third period, and the Winnipeg Jets extended their lead in the Western Conference First Round with a 2-1 win against the St. Louis Blues in Game 2 at Canada Life Centre on Monday.

“We talked about our mentality going into tonight,” Connor said. “You saw; it was a tight-checking game, run around, not a ton of space and not a ton of odd-man rushes. They weren’t going to be beat that way — we weren’t going to be beat that way. Just came down to who wanted it more.”

Connor made it 2-1 with a one-timer in the slot after Cole Perfetti found him with a pass from behind the net.

“I think that play should be killed behind the net by us,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “And then we’ve got to be able to cover. I mean, we want to force the puck up high versus allowing 81 [Connor] to get a shot from the hashmarks.”

In Game 1 on Saturday, Connor scored the go-ahead goal with 1:36 remaining in a 5-3 Jets win.

“[Connor] finds the right pockets of the ice, how to get open,” Perfetti said. “And I just made a quick look and he was wide open, and then he makes a great shot. So it was a great play.”

Mark Scheifele had a goal and an assist for the Jets, who won the Presidents’ Trophy which is awarded annually to the team that finishes with the most points in the regular season. Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves.

“He kind of settled us into the game (early),” Connor said of Hellebuyck’s 10 saves in the first period. “They did get a couple looks and he’s been doing that all year. Even Game 1 on the breakaway, he just comes up with timely saves after timely saves. He’s one of the best in the world for it. Just like everybody, I think he elevated his game tonight.”

"Hellebuyck made some saves tonight," Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. "We could just do a little bit better job of getting traffic, and pucks and people to the net for some second opportunities.”

Jimmy Snuggerud scored his first Stanley Cup Playoffs goal for the Blues, who are the second wild card from the West. Jordan Binnington made 20 saves.

“I think as a group, we're not happy to be down 2-0,” Montgomery said. “But the games are really close. There’s not much separation going on right now. We need to make a separation, we need to find another level when we go home so we can end up on top by a goal.”

Game 3 will be in St. Louis on Thursday (9:30 p.m. ET; FDSNMW, ESPN2, SN, TVAS, CBC, TVAS2).

Scheifele made it 1-0 Jets at 16:32 of the first period. After driving to the net around Blues defenseman Nick Leddy, Scheifele lost the puck while deking to avoid Binnington’s poke check, allowing it to go in off the skate of Snuggerud as he laid a hit on Scheifele.

“I feel like (I’m) just trying to backcheck him, play the body on him,” Snuggerud said. “Pucks happen to hit skates and stuff and it just went in. It's an unfortunate bounce, but it happens… That's how hockey goes. I feel like it's that one play that can make the difference in the game, and it was unlucky for us that they got it.”

Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said: “That’s your best players playing at the top of their game. That’s what [Scheifele] has done. You can see that he’s taken on that challenge. He’s going head-to-head against their best player, whether it’s defending or whether he’s (on) offense with the puck, he has a strong skillset that we have seen in all 82 games and now he’s taken it into this playoff series. When your best players are your best players, that certainly goes a long way towards helping you win hockey games.”

With less than two seconds remaining in the first, Snuggerud tied it 1-1 on the power play. Pavel Buchnevich’s cross-ice pass found Snuggerud at the top edge of the left circle, allowing him to beat Hellebuyck’s blocker with a wrist shot.

“It was a great play by 'Bucci' [Buchnevich],” Snuggerud said. “I tried to pick a corner and fortunately enough it went in, but at the end of the day we lost and it's no fun losing.”

Following Snuggerud’s goal, St. Louis was 3-for-4 on the power play in the series. The Blues were unable to score on three other power plays in the game, allowing Winnipeg to finish 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.

“That’s one of the biggest things in the playoffs are special teams, especially when 5-on-5 is always so close,” St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko said. “So many different opportunities can be created on the power play. If not a goal, then momentum. That’s huge in the playoffs… (The series) is super close. I think the special teams are going to be huge. Just could be the difference as well.”

“Well, we're gonna have the last line change now," Montgomery said of the series shifting to St. Louis. "We're going to go home, we're going to be in front of our frenzied crowd, and we're going to have an opportunity to hold serve at home. We’ve got to get to Game 3.”

NOTES: The Jets have won 20 consecutive games when Connor scores a goal. … Connor became the fourth player in the past 20 years to record the game-winning goal in consecutive games to open the playoffs. He joined Chris Kreider (2023), Nathan MacKinnon (2021) and Nicklas Lidstrom (2007). … Connor and Scheifele became the first players in Jets/Thrashers franchise history to record multiple points in each of their first two contests of a playoff year. … Scheifele became the first player in franchise playoff history with consecutive three-point games at any point in a postseason. … Snuggerud (20 years, 324 days) became the third Blues player over the past 15 years to score his first career playoff goal at age 20 or younger, following Robert Thomas (19 years, 303 days in Game 4 of 2019 Western Conference Second Round) and Robby Fabbri (20 years, 90 days in Game 5 of 2016 Western Conference First Round).