Jets defeat Blues in Game 3, get first win in Western series

ST. LOUIS -- Kyle Connor scored twice for the Winnipeg Jets in a 6-3 win against the St. Louis Blues in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round at Enterprise Center on Sunday.

The Jets trail the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 is here Tuesday.
"We're building every shift, every game throughout the series," Connor said. "We're getting closer to our game, and it's pretty dangerous."
WATCH: [Jets vs. Blues Game 3 highlights | Complete series coverage]
Patrik Laine and Dustin Byfuglien each had a goal and an assist, and Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves for the Jets.
"We just stayed within our game and tried to play it simple," said Laine, who has a goal in each game in the series after scoring one goal in his final 19 regular-season games. "We got going and just tried to keep our foot on the gas the whole 60 (minutes)."
David Perron, Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen scored, and Jordan Binnington made 23 saves for the Blues, who won Games 1 and 2 in Winnipeg and had won their final seven regular-season home games.
"Tonight was not really our team obviously," Perron said. "We weren't happy with our effort. We didn't play a good game, but we've got to give them credit, they played a good game as well. We didn't respond enough."
The Jets scored three second-period goals to take a 3-1 lead. Kevin Hayes tied it 1-1 at 4:57 on a shot through traffic from the blue line. It came after Binnington made a series of saves in the first period, including close-range attempts from Bryan Little 2:03 into the game and Mathieu Perreault at 5:55 of the first period.
"The goalie has been playing great, so we just tried to get a greasy one," Hayes said of the Blues rookie. "I threw it on net and luckily, it went in."

Laine's third goal in as many games made it 2-1 at 7:47 during a 4-on-4, and Connor's power-play goal during a 4-on-3 made it 3-1 at 8:58.
Tarasenko's power-play goal at 1:51 of the third period cut the Jets lead to 3-2, but Brandon Tanev restored the two-goal lead at 4-2, scoring at 4:25 on a redirection after Hellebuyck made a save on Pat Maroon at the other end to prevent the tying goal.
"We made a good push there for a little bit, but we just didn't start the way we wanted to," Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo said. "We knew they were going to come out (and) it just wasn't us from the start. We had some good pushes, but overall we need to do better."
Byfuglien scored from the goal line at 8:06 to make it 5-2.
"Hopefully we can keep going and getting pucks by [Binnington]," Byfuglien said. "We have to focus on the little things and focus on our zone and the offense will come."

Steen's tip-in at 13:42 of the third made it 5-3, but Connor's second of the game at 14:44 made it 6-3.
Perron gave the Blues a 1-0 lead, scoring their first power-play goal of the series at 19:12 of the first period on a wrist shot from the slot to Hellebuyck's blocker side.
Binnington got an assist on Perron's goal, his first Stanley Cup Playoff point.

They said it

"It was good to get rewarded. Obviously (a 3-0 series deficit) is a bad hole to get into. We stayed with the game plan, stayed with what we've done the whole series so far, and just got a little bit more rewarded." -- Jets captain Blake Wheeler
"Yeah, they had a lot of time in the offensive zone and let them into the inside a little too much. The first two games, kept them to the outside. Got to be harder in front of our net." -- Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo

Need to know

The Jets scored three goals on four shots in the third period. ... Winnipeg is 3-0-0 at Enterprise Center this season, including two regular-seasons wins, and has outscored St. Louis 19-8. ... Binnington's assist was the first for a Blues goalie in the playoffs since Chris Osgood on April 12, 2004, against the San Jose Sharks. ... Binnington made 13 first-period saves but allowed six goals on 16 shots the rest of the game, the first time he's allowed more than four goals in an NHL game.

What's next

Game 4 of Western Conference First Round at Enterprise Center on Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET; CNBC, SN, TVAS, FS-MW)