Jets Dominate Blues in Playoff-Like Victory – A Dominant Performance
Don’t let the close final score fool you.
The Winnipeg Jets delivered one of their most dominating games of the season Monday night, absolutely smothering the NHL’s hottest team at every single turn and skating away with a well-deserved 3-1 victory that very much had a playoff feel to it.
“Everybody looked at each other and got up for this one,” Jets forward Kyle Connor said. “We just embraced the moment. Top to bottom, we took the flow of the game early. I liked what I saw.”
How impressive was this timely triumph over the St. Louis Blues? Let us count the ways.
- The Blues came to town on a 12-game winning streak and with two regulation defeats over their past 23 outings. They were the clear second-best in this one, and by a considerable margin. They fall to 43-29-7 and currently occupy the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
- By improving to 53-21-4, the Jets broke their franchise record for wins in a season. They still have four games remaining.
- Winnipeg is now five points ahead of Dallas in their efforts to win a first division title (in either 1.0 or 2.0 eras). They need six points — either gained by them and/or lost by the Stars, who have five games left — to clinch.
- Winnipeg is now three points ahead of Washington in the race for the President’s Trophy. The Capitals have one game in hand.
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, the runaway favourite to win a third Vezina Trophy and a legitimate Hart Trophy candidate, stopped 14 of 15 shots to tie his own franchise record with his 44th win of the year. He’s now four away from the league’s all-time mark.
Connor set up Alex Iafallo at 7:05 of the third to give the home team the lead for good, while Lowry added the big insurance marker in the waning seconds.
[Quote from Connor celebrating the win – Insert actual quote here]
“It’s gratifying, but it’s stuff for after the year. We’re still after something here, we’re still trying to get that division, and this was another step towards it,” said coach Scott Arniel.
“It’s amazing that we’re at (win) 53 and we still haven’t clinched the division, that’s how good our division is. So it’s just move off of this one, move on to the next one.”
Let’s break this down further:
THE ROUT WASN’T ON
But it should have been with the huge disparity in play. Consider this:
The Jets had a whopping 31 shot attempts in the first period while giving up eight to the Blues. Yet it was still tied 0-0. Credit St. Louis for only allowing eight of those to get on net, with a whopping 14 being blocked and the other nine missing the net.
It was only a matter of time before that kind of relentless pressure paid off.
Key Play
Iafallo’s 14th goal of the year with just under 13 minutes to play was the winner.
[Quote from Barron about the game – Insert actual quote here]
“I think that’s how we want to play,” said Barron.
MEN IN STRIPES
Credit the hometown boy, Joel Hofer, for keeping his team in it.
The 24-year-old Blues goaltender stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced as he tried to win for a second time this year in Winnipeg. Hofer was sensational during a 4-1 St. Louis victory on Dec. 3.
Of course, the Jets played no small role in that.
“That was a really solid 60 minutes of going out in five-man units, out-battling them, and getting zone time on the opposition,” said Arniel.
“Everybody figured out after the first period who their matchups were, who they were going head to head (with) and I thought all four lines won their matchups. Along with the D-men, obviously. You do that, you have 20 guys doing that, that’s a tough team to beat.”
THREE STARS
- Jets Alex Iafallo: Game-winning goal, 6 shots
- Blues Joel Hofer: 24 saves
- Jets Josh Morrissey: 1A, 7 shot attempts, team-high 25:45
Extra Extra
Get the ice packs. The two teams combined for 38 blocked shots (20-18 for the Blues) and 57 hits (31-26 for the Blues).
The Jets were once again without injured forwards Nikolaj Ehlers (lower-body), Rasmus Kupari (concussion), Gabe Vilardi (upper-body) and D Neal Pionk (lower-body). D Colin Miller also missed the contest due to illness. The only healthy scratch was D Ville Heinola.
St. Louis was also missing a couple key skaters in forward Dylan Holloway and defenceman Colton Parayko.
The Jets will take Tuesday off and then skate on Wednesday before hitting the road for a huge Thursday night showdown in Dallas, followed by a visit to Chicago on Saturday. Then it’s home for the final two games of the season — Edmonton (Sunday) and Anaheim (next Wednesday).
Mike McIntyre
Reporter
Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike.
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