Jets score four unanswered in divisional win over Blues

ST. LOUIS - A six-game winless skid came to a screeching halt in St. Louis for the Winnipeg Jets.
They gave up the first goal, but rattled off four unanswered to earn a 4-1 victory over the Blues (26-13-5), giving the Jets their second straight win over their Central Division rivals.
As important as the win was, it's how the game was played that stood out the most to Pierre-Luc Dubois.
"They're a good team, so we knew it wasn't going to be an easy game and we felt like we did a lot of good things defensively without the puck," said Dubois. "What's hard to play against is when teams are in your face, they don't think twice about pressuring you. Their sticks are good, their bodies are good, they get support and I thought that's what we did tonight."
Two goals by Paul Stastny bookended the Jets offence on Saturday, his 10th and 11th goals of the campaign. Kyle Connor's 24th of the season proved to be the game-winner, while Nate Schmidt's power play blast - which gave the Jets a 3-1 lead in the second period - finished as the insurance marker.

"The playoffs aren't some distant fairy tale that you're just going to arrive to and be amongst it. It starts with these games right there," Schmidt said. "In order to get yourself in position to where you want to be in a month, you need to get stretches together. Hopefully, this is the start of one."
Though they had collected two points during the 0-4-2 stretch, getting the full two points in St. Louis - where the Blues have 36 of their 57 points this season - was a huge weight off the Jets' shoulders.
"I think it will let us relax a little bit," said Jets interim head coach Dave Lowry. "Today we came and we executed. We played a really solid road game and we managed the game the way that we need to."

The Blues' third-ranked power play opened the scoring with Vladimir Tarasenko's 15th of the season, which came 6:08 into the first. With Johnathan Kovacevic off for holding, Brayden Schenn whipped a seam pass cross-ice to Tarasenko in the left circle and the Russian sniper just beat Eric Comrie sliding across the crease.
That was the only puck to beat Comrie, though, as the 26-year-old finished the night with 28 saves to earn his fourth win of the season.
"He's been extremely patient," said Lowry. "Obviously, Covid played a factor in him not getting a couple starts. But today he played with a lot of poise. He was confident. The puck hit him. He wasn't busy, he was nice and quiet."
Stastny responded for Winnipeg (18-16-7) with 5:37 left in the first by taking advantage of some good fortune. Jordan Kyrou collided with Justin Faulk on a reload, sending the puck dribbling back toward Ville Husso, who left his crease to try and play the puck. His effort ended up going off the shin pad of Faulk, and the body of Stastny, before the Jets forward chipped it into the yawning cage for his 10th of the season.
The Jets took their first lead 7:57 into the second, as Connor finished off a great shift from his line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Cole Perfetti. Shortly after Perfetti snapped a chance from the slot wide of the net, Dubois got the puck back and found Connor in the high slot from the right wing boards. Connor's wrister went off the post and in, giving him his 24th of the season.

Dubois' assist was part of a big night for the forward. It was his only point of the night, but the 23-year-old was a handful for the Blues all night with three hits, a shot on goal, and many battles in the corner with St. Louis defencemen.
"That's the game he needs to play every night," said Lowry. "He's a big bodied guy and he's a hard guy to defend and I like when he plays with a little anger in his game. He played tonight like a man, he had a purpose and you can see how good a player he is."
On their first power play chance of the night, the Jets made it a 3-1 lead with Nate Schmidt's one-timer from the point. Schmidt's blast, his second goal of the season, sailed low and through the traffic in front of Husso.
That capped off a middle frame that saw the Jets outscore the Blues 2-0, and outshoot them 8-2.
"When our guys are moving, getting the puck up the ice and we're not dusting it off and not trying to weave through and whatnot and not just going in, dumping it and getting off, getting guys in the neutral zone and waiting for them to come back," said Schmidt. "When you look at our group, what's when we're really clicking. When you can go out and try and take over the game and take over the game with speed and your neutral zone attack, that's a really big part of us to be a good team."

Making that period more impressive was the fact the Jets were missing over 1,200 games of NHL experience on the blue line. Josh Morrissey, Dylan DeMelo, Logan Stanley, and Nathan Beaulieu were unavailable for the Jets. That meant increased ice time for Ville Heinola in his second NHL game of the season, and for Kovacevic and Declan Chisholm, playing just the second NHL games of their careers.
"It's always nice to see new guys come in, battle and grind it out," said Schmidt. "Especially not an easy building to come into and win for guys in their first, second games. I was proud of our guys."
In the third, the Jets penalty kill went to work three times, but the Blues weren't able to cut into the Jets lead.
Winnipeg finished 4-for-5 on the PK on the night.
"I thought our guys did a really good job of getting under sticks in front of the net," said Lowry. "We got stung with a seam but I thought the resilience, the pressure that we were able to put on, we didn't allow them a lot of quality zone time and, when they did get it, they had to play through us."
Stastny finished off the scoring with an empty netter with 2:35 remaining in regulation.
The Jets finish their road trip on Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers.