Connor game-winner propels Jets to 2-game lead over Blues

Judy Owen · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Apr 21, 2025 10:38 PM EDT | Last Updated: 12 minutes ago

Mark Scheifele had a extremity and assistance and Kyle Connor scored his 2nd consecutive game-winner successful the 3rd play to propel the Winnipeg Jets to a 2-1 triumph implicit the St. Louis Blues connected Monday and a two-game pb successful their opening-round playoff series.

It was the archetypal clip successful 3 seasons the Jets person started with a 2-0 bid pb successful the Western Conference best-of-seven contest. The past 2 years, Winnipeg won the archetypal crippled and past mislaid the adjacent 4 to beryllium eliminated.

St. Louis hosts Game 3 connected Thursday.

Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves successful beforehand of a afloat location of loud, white-clad fans astatine Canada Life Centre.

Rookie Jimmy Snuggerud scored his archetypal playoff extremity and Jordan Binnington stopped 20 shots for eighth-seeded St. Louis.

The Blues continued their hitting ways from the archetypal game's 5-3 nonaccomplishment and the Jets didn't backmost down.

Within the archetypal infinitesimal of Monday's tilt, St. Louis skaters delivered 5 hits. Winnipeg responded with a brace of their own.

Six-foot-seven Jets defenceman Logan Stanley aboriginal crushed Jordan Kyrou into the boards. The guardant cautiously went to the seat with astir 7 minutes remaining successful the period.

Blues skipper Brayden Schenn, who had 7 hits successful the archetypal play of Game 1, skated crossed the crystal and flew into Jets skipper Adam Lowry. He finished with 4 hits successful the period.

Scheifele scored connected a large effort to get astir a St. Louis defender and past fired a backhand from the slot. The puck bounced disconnected Snuggerud into the nett with 3:28 left.

Winnipeg didn't capitalize connected 2 powerfulness plays, but the Blues cashed successful connected their archetypal one.

Snuggerud made up for the earlier atrocious bounce by sending the puck precocious implicit Hellebuyck's blocker broadside connected the antheral vantage with 2 seconds remaining successful the framework to marque it 1-1.

Blues caput manager Jim Montgomery had flipped Snuggerud and left-winger Jake Neighbours for the game, moving the erstwhile University of Minnesota prima from the 2nd enactment to the apical 1 with centre Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich. He said the motive was producing much offence.

Both teams tallied 16 hits each successful the archetypal period, and the Blues outshot the Jets 10-8.

St. Louis came up bare connected 2 powerfulness plays successful the 2nd play and some teams fired 7 shots astatine the goalies.

Connor made it 2-1 astatine 1:43 of the 3rd play aft getting a provender retired beforehand by Cole Perfetti astatine the broadside of the net.

The Blues got their 4th consecutive powerfulness play six minutes later, but Winnipeg's defenders killed it.

Switching settings

As the bid moves to St. Louis, the Blues volition effort to capitalize connected their 24-14-3 regular-season location record, including 12 consecutive victories.

The Jets went 3-1 against the Blues successful their four-game regular-season series, winning 2 matches successful Missouri.

Winnipeg, which had a 30-7-4 regular-season grounds astatine home, earned home-ice vantage passim the playoffs aft capturing the Presidents' Trophy for the NHL's champion regular-season record.