Coming off a rough outing in Utah, the Winnipeg Jets needed to bring their best effort to slow down the hottest team in hockey.
Mission accomplished.
The Jets suffocated the St. Louis Blues Monday night, allowing just 15 shots on goal in a 3-1 win as Winnipeg picked up their 53rd win of the season to set a new franchise record.
Neither team found the back of the net in a fairly uneventful opening period, though Winnipeg controlled play for most of the 20 minutes, outshooting the Blues 8-3 and out-attempting St. Louis 31-8.
Winnipeg got on the board with 2:34 gone in the second period. Morgan Barron made a nice play at the Jets’ blue line to disrupt Mathieu Joseph and started skating up the ice before Josh Morrissey got to the loose puck and chipped it ahead.
Barron fought off Joseph to win the race to the puck and continued to ward him off as he took the puck to the net and beat Joel Hofer blocker-side to make it 1-0 Jets.
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The lead held for just under five minutes before St. Louis answered back. The Blues won puck battle along the boards that led to Robert Thomas having the puck in the corner below the goal line. He held it for a moment before finding Pavel Buchnevich in the slot, whose one-timer went off the post and in to tie the game at the 7:27 mark.
Each team had a failed power play in the period as it stayed tied 1-1 through 40 minutes. Each team managed to get eight shots on goal in the middle frame.
Winnipeg regained the lead at the 7:05 mark of the third period thanks to their top line. Buchnevich turned it over to Kyle Connor in the Blues’ end before Connor took it to the slot and whipped a shot that Hofer stopped but Alex Iafallo banged home the rebound to make it 2-1.
After the Jets iced the puck with 2:02 remaining, Hofer went to the bench for an extra attacker. Winnipeg had a great chance to seal it with about 40 seconds to go but Mason Appleton hit the side of the empty net, giving the Blues an extra life but they couldn’t take advantage of it before Adam Lowry scored to clinch the win with 8.5 seconds left.
Hellebuyck only had to make 14 saves to secure his 44th victory of the season to tie his career-high.
Winnipeg now has 110 points with four games to go, five points clear of Dallas who has a game in hand.
The Stars will host Vancouver Tuesday night before the Jets and Stars meet in Texas on Thursday in a game that very well could decide who wins the Central.
