Scheifele, Connor lead Jets to 2-1
win over Blues for 2-0 series lead
[April 22, 2025]
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Mark Scheifele had a goal and
assist, Kyle Connor scored his second consecutive game-winner in the
third period, and the Winnipeg Jets beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on
Monday night for a 2-0 lead in their opening-round playoff series.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 21 shots to help the Jets take a 2-0
playoff series lead for the first time in three seasons. The past
two years, Winnipeg won the first game and then lost the next four
to be eliminated.
“I don’t know if it’s a mental boost, but we’re aware of it coming
into it,” Connor said. “I think over the past couple of years, this
group is motivated.
“We talked about it over the offseason, we preached about it all
year, it’s in this room. Everybody needs to be better, bear down,
it’s dragging everybody into the fight. Yeah it’s a second win, but
we’re not resting here. We’ve got a long ways to go.”
Taking a 2-0 lead in the series wasn’t cause for celebration by Jets
coach Scott Arniel.
“This is all (about) Game 3 now,” Arniel said. “We’ll do our
postgame work tomorrow or over the next couple of days here. The
guys know how hard it is, now.”
Rookie Jimmy Snuggerud scored his first playoff goal and Jordan
Binnington had 20 saves for the eighth-seeded Blues.
“Winnipeg has made one more play than us. Both games,” Blues coach
Jim Montgomery said. “Shots are dead even, so they’re just making
one more play, and their best players are making them.”
St. Louis hosts Game 3 on Thursday.
Connor made it 2-1 at 1:43 of the third period after getting a feed
out front by Cole Perfetti at the side of the net.
Scheifele escaped Blues defenseman Cam Fowler behind the St. Louis
net and sent the puck to Perfetti to feed Connor.
“Scheif is so smart when it comes to that, body positioning, getting
inside a guy or just making a little poke on the puck,” Perfetti
said. “And he was able to get the guy’s stick and then make just a
little poke. That was all that he needed for the puck to come to me
and create that little bit of space.”
The Blues got their fourth straight power play six minutes later,
but Winnipeg’s defenders killed it.
The Blues continued their hitting ways from the first game’s 5-3
loss and the Jets didn’t back down.
Within the first minute of Game 2, St. Louis skaters delivered five
hits. Winnipeg responded with a pair of their own.
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St. Louis Blues' Jake Neighbours, center, falls over Blues
goaltender Jordan Binnington, right, as he is checked by Winnipeg
Jets' Adam Lowry (17) during the third period of Game 2 of a
first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Monday
April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)
Jets 6-foot-7 defenseman Logan Stanley later
crushed Jordan Kyrou into the boards. The forward carefully went to
the bench with about seven minutes remaining in the period.
Blues captain Brayden Schenn, who had seven hits in the first period
of Game 1, skated across the ice and flew into Jets captain Adam
Lowry. He finished with four hits in the period.
“After the game you go home and you feel sore, but it’s a good sore,
and a good tired,” said Jets defenseman Luke Schenn, who had seven
hits. “You know, when you come away with the win, it obviously
doesn’t hurt as much.”
Scheifele scored on a great effort to get around a St. Louis
defender and then fired a backhand from the slot. The puck bounced
off Snuggerud into the net with 3:28 left.
Winnipeg didn’t capitalize on two power plays, but the Blues cashed
in on their first one.
Snuggerud made up for the earlier bad bounce by sending the puck
high over Hellebuyck’s blocker side on the man advantage with 2
seconds remaining in the period to make it 1-1.
Montgomery flipped Snuggerud and left-winger Jake Neighbours for the
game, moving the former University of Minnesota star from the second
line to the top one with center Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich.
He said the motive was producing more offense.
Both teams tallied 16 hits each in the first period, and the Blues
outshot the Jets 10-8.
St. Louis came up empty on two power plays in the second period and
both teams fired seven shots at the goalies.
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