Game 2’s have not been kind to the Winnipeg Jets in their young history.
Going into Monday night’s game against the Blues, the Jets had lost seven of nine game 2’s in best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoff action.
But trends are made to be broken as the Jets emerged from a tight, entertaining hockey game with a 2-1 win to take a 2-0 series lead.
The game opened with 5:44 of uninterrupted play as St. Louis looked to jump on the Jets early, forcing several turnovers in the Winnipeg end but they couldn’t beat Connor Hellebuyck.
Radek Faksa took the game’s first penalty with 6:19 gone in the first but Winnipeg could not capitalize. The Jets got another power play with 6:39 to go in the opening period when Tyler Tucker was called for cross-checking but once again the Jets couldn’t cash in.
Moments after the penalty expired, Vlad Namestnikov made a great toe-drag around a Blues defender before setting up Mason Appleton back-door but he was robbed by Jordan Binnington.
Winnipeg finally cracked the code with 3:28 left in the first when Mark Scheifele made his presence felt. He took a pass at the St. Louis blue line and drove along the boards, getting around Nick Leddy and charging to the net. His initial chance was denied but a back-checking Jimmy Snuggerud ran into Binnington as Scheifele went by, knocking the puck into the net.
The Blues’ rookie made amends in the dying seconds of the period. With Dylan DeMelo in the box for tripping, Snuggerud ripped a shot top-shelf on the power play with 1.7 seconds left to tie the game after 20 minutes.
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Winnipeg got their penalty kill sorted out in the second, killing off a pair of minor penalties after the Blues scored on three of their first four power play looks in the series.
Neither team found the back of the net on seven shots each in the second, but early in the third, Winnipeg’s game 1 hero struck again.
At the end of a long shift in the St. Louis end, Winnipeg worked the puck around the boards until it found its way to Scheifele below the goal line. He touched it over to Cole Perfetti at the side of the net before Perfetti found Kyle Connor in the slot for a one-timer that beat Binnington five-hole to restore Winnipeg’s lead at the 1:43 mark.
The Jets’ penalty kill rose to the challenge again near the midway point of the third after Luke Schenn was called for roughing, and when his penalty elapsed he stepped out of the box and had an unlikely partial breakaway but he was unable to get a good shot on net.
Moments later, Binnington tried to play the puck around the boards in his own end but it wound up bouncing off Scheifele and right to the faceoff dot where Perfetti turned and fired a blind shot toward the open net but he missed wide.
The Blues pulled Binnington for an extra attacker with 2:17 to go in the third but they weren’t able to level the score as the Winnipeg crowd rose to its feet, cheering to the buzzer as their team held serve on home ice.
As mentioned, it’s the third time in franchise history that the Jets have won a game 2 in a best-of-seven series. The previous two times they won a game 2, they went on to win the series.
Hellebuyck made 21 saves to earn the win, including just five in the third period as the Jets, for the second game in a row, allowed very little in the final period en route to victory.
Binnington stopped 20 shots in defeat.
Game 3 goes Thursday night in St. Louis as the Jets go for the series stranglehold. It’s a late puck drop, listed as 8:30 p.m. but it will be more like 8:52 p.m. by the time the game actually starts thanks to television doubleheader obligations. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB will begin at 6 p.m.
