Monahan has goal, assist, Jets defeat Blues for 4th straight win

WINNIPEG -- Sean Monahan had a goal and an assist for the Winnipeg Jets, who won their fourth-straight game with a 4-2 victory against the St. Louis Blues at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday.

Monahan, who missed Sunday's 4-3 overtime win against the Arizona Coyotes with an illness, has six goals in his past five games. He had no points in his first four with the Jets after he was acquired in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 2.

“From day one since we got Sean, we've been trying to get that chemistry on the second line,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “That's very important as we move forward. That line (Monahan, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Alex Iafallo) has looked very good."

Iafallo, Brenden Dillon, and Kyle Connor also scored, and Laurent Brossoit made 36 saves for the Jets (37-15-5), who have won seven of eight. Josh Morrissey and Ehlers each had two assists.

“You've got two very reliable players in Sean and Alex, and it gives [Ehlers] a little more freedom out there,” Bowness said. “Now the line looks really good.”

Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad scored for the Blues (30-26-2), who have lost four of five. Joel Hofer made 28 saves.

“(We) find ourselves chasing the game early on,” St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. “We had some opportunities in the first offensively where we didn’t convert. I thought there were two mistakes in the game that made the difference, on the third goal, and then obviously on the fourth goal. We gave ourselves an opportunity in the second with a real good second to get ourselves back in the game, and then we make that mistake and we don’t have an opportunity to tie it up at the end. But certainly a better effort, but we’ve got to find more from our group.”

Monahan gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 8:53 of the first period with a one-timer in the slot.

“(Our line is) buzzing right now,” Iafallo said. “I feel like we had a lot of great chances offensively. You know we got to keep that going, keep the speed through the neutral zone. Just keep making plays down low like that.”

Dillon made it 2-0 at 10:20 when his point shot through traffic beat Hofer.

“On that play, [Mark Scheifele] went right back to me,” Dillon said. “I didn’t have to move. I just put my head down and fired it.”

Buchnevich scored 30 seconds later to cut it to 2-1, tapping in a backhand at the right post on a rebound from Marco Scandella’s shot from the high slot at 10:50.

“I think we played a decent game,” Buchnevich said. “We got chances, but like I was saying, we’ve got to score goals, you know? But at least we got chances today and not like just on the power play.

“We’re just trying to play the right way right now, find a way in [our] game. Just simplify our game and try to play for the team, and hopefully get the result.”

Connor made it 3-1 at 15:33, taking a lead pass from Morrissey and scoring a wrist shot from the left circle on the rush.

Morrissey has 11 assists during a five-game point streak.

“[Morrissey] was creating a lot of offence earlier, we just weren't scoring any goals for him,” Bowness said. “We monitor those chances for and against very closely, and he's always been up there in terms of creating chances for, so yeah, it wasn't going our way offensively for a while, but now the puck's going in and he's making great plays."

Saad cut it to 3-2 at 9:03 of the second when he put in a loose puck at the top of the crease.

“I thought the guys did a good job in the second period, come back, get [within] one and give us a chance going to the third,” Blues defenseman Justin Faulk said. “We probably just didn’t have enough of a push in the third there as we needed, and they were able to capitalize and obviously really take control at that point.”

Iafallo pushed it to 4-2 at 10:13 of the third, putting in a rebound in front after Ehlers weaved through the slot and had his shot come back off the end boards.

“We’re playing a lot of tough teams coming up right now, and we’re going to need to find a way to dig deep and find some points,” Faulk said. None of the games are going to be easy, it’s the expectation of the group.”

NOTES: The Blues have been outscored 12-3 in the first period of their past seven games. … Saad has four points (two goals, two assists) on a four-game point streak. … Faulk had three shots in 20:43 of ice time in his first game after missing 12 with a lower-body injury. … Morrissey has recorded multiple assists in four consecutive games, tying Blake Wheeler (4 games in 2018-19) for the second longest multiassist streak in Jets/Thrashers history. Marc Savard tops the list with a five-game run in 2005-06. … Brossoit is 6-1-1 in his past eight starts. … Connor has 11 points (five goals, six assists) on a six-game point streak. He became the first player in Jets/Thrashers history with three straight game-winning goals. The only players in NHL history to score the winner in four consecutive games are Newsy Lalonde (5 GP in 1920-21), Elias Pettersson (4 GP in 2023-24) and Daniel Alfredsson (4 GP in 2006-07). … Iafallo’s goal ends a 20-game drought dating back to Jan. 4. … Dillon’s seventh goal of the season sets a new career high.