Dubois scores twice as Jets beat Blues to open road trip

ST. LOUIS -Every chance to take two points from a division rival is a golden opportunity, and the Winnipeg Jets seized that opportunity on Thursday night.
A 5-2 victory over the Blues keeps the Jets in top spot in the Central Division, and improves their record against divisional opponents this season to 9-2-0.
Those points only get harder to come by as the season goes on, so banking them now is a good feeling.
"Last year, we were chasing it most, well, the entire year pretty much," said Pierre-Luc Dubois, who score his 12th and 13th goals of the season in the victory, extending his point streak to seven games.
"You don't literally miss the playoffs because of hockey in October or November, but these two points, these one points lost in overtime, that could be the difference," he said. "We'll take every two points we can get. It's a long year, but I think we're doing a good job."

Along with the two goals from Dubois, Kyle Connor, Cole Perfetti, and Blake Wheeler also found the back of the net at Enterprise Center. Despite the fact the Jets (17-7-1) now have two wins over St. Louis (12-15-0) this season, Wheeler says they can never take that team lightly.

"We just have a ton of respect for them and we come into games against them knowing how we have to play the game," said Wheeler. "You saw tonight, we get off our game for even a few minutes and the puck's in our net."
Before the Jets 'got off their game,' in Wheeler's words, they were very much on it to start the game.
They liked their start in Tuesday's win over Florida, and they seemed to carry it into St. Louis.

A penalty kill in the first period led to Winnipeg's game opening tally. Rick Bowness put Pierre-Luc Dubois, Mark Scheifele, and Perfetti out as a forward unit following the Dylan DeMelo high-sticking minor, and it paid immediate dividends. The trio circled the Blues zone and, with the help of Josh Morrissey and Logan Stanley, got the Blues running around in their own end. The Jets capitalized when Stanley's wrister missed the net, but Scheifele corralled it and sent it in front for Dubois, who tucked it home.
"The last couple of games have been the best he's played," Bowness said of Dubois, who has five goals and 11 points during his point streak. "He's strong on the puck, he's been good defensively. He's been great on the power play. His line has been outstanding for us."
The Jets kept the pressure up in the second, and Connor made it 2-0 just 27 seconds into the middle frame. Mikey Eyssimont was able to chip the puck to Connor from the neutral zone, and Connor met the puck with speed, then beat Thomas Greiss stick side for his 11th of the campaign - and ninth goal in the past 11 games.
The first power play opportunity of the game also lit the lamp, as Blake Wheeler was able to tap home a loose puck in the crease 4:06 into the second to increase the Jets lead to 3-0. Not only did that give the Jets power play goals in six straight, an assist on the Wheeler goal gave Mark Scheifele his 600th career NHL point. That makes him the third in franchise history - along with Wheeler and Ilya Kovalchuk - to accomplish that feat with the team.

As for the power play, Wheeler says the confidence level is sky high.
"There's a lot more movement and that just makes us dangerous," Wheeler said. "I think we were staying a little too much on the perimeter for a while. Now Josh (Morrissey) is really moving on the blue line and getting pucks to the net and I think that's really changed our attitude on the power play."
Robert Thomas got the Blues on the board late in the second, beating Connor Hellebuyck on the short side from the bottom of the left circle. Thomas' sixth of the season was the first goal the Blues scored on Hellebuyck this season, after getting shutout on 25 shots back on October 24.
That was part of the St. Louis rally to get back in the game, but Dubois wasn't going to let that happen.
Dubois was able to seize some momentum back for the Jets with 12:21 remaining, as he moved up ice and used his big body to drive wide on Colton Parayko, then sent a shot short side on Greiss that snuck inside the post to make it 4-1.
"That fourth goal by (Dubois) was absolutely huge," said Bowness. "That's a timely goal and then when we were on our heels a little bit, (Hellebuyck) kept making those big saves for us. He is a wall back there, man - and I love the way that he competes."

But a rush chance just over three minutes later made it a two-goal lead again, as Josh Leivo tapped in a back-door pass from Ryan O'Reilly to make it 4-2 with 9:17 remaining in regulation.
That was the last puck to beat Hellebuyck, who made 29 saves on 31 shots to help preserve the win.
Perfetti's empty netter with a shade under two minutes left wrapped up the scoring for the Jets, who now have won six of their past seven games.
Next up, the Jets take on the Chicago Blackhawks, and once again, those valuable divisional points will be on the line.
"Listen, if you want to sit in first place, teams are going to come after you and we've got to be ready," said Bowness. "The guys were tonight. I was happy with the start, happy with the first period, so again, take pride in being where we are."
ICE CHIPS
Saku Maenalanen left the game early in the first period after taking a hit from Blues defenceman Niko Mikkola and didn't return due to an upper-body injury.
"He'll be evaluated when we get back," Bowness said. "At this point, we'll have to wait to see what reports we get back."