Kyle Connor had a goal and two assists as the Winnipeg Jets knocked off the visiting St. Louis Blues 5-3 in Game 5 of their Western Conference first-round series Wednesday night.
The Jets lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading to Game 6 on Friday in St. Louis.
Vladislav Namestnikov and Nino Niederreiter each had a goal and an assist, Mason Appleton had three assists and Connor Hellebuyck made 16 saves for the Jets, who bounced back from one-sided losses in Games 3 and 4 in St. Louis.
Nathan Walker scored two goals, Jimmy Snuggerud scored in his 12th NHL game and Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for the Blues, the second wild-card team from the Western Conference.
The Jets scored three straight goals after Snuggerud tied it at 2 with a wrist shot from the right circle off the rush, slipping the puck between Hellebuyck and the near post at 6:06 of the second period.
“Not only did we defend well, I thought we attacked them and kind of had some stretches where we were really pouring it on and doing what we do best,” Appleton said. “We forechecked real hard, we recovered pucks. We made a lot of plans in their O-zone, we got on top of their goalie. We did what we needed to do to win that game.”
A point shot by Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo deflected off St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko and into his own net to move the Jets back in front 3-2 at 11:05.
The Blues extended the lead to 4-2 at 18:59 of the second when Namestnikov scored off a backhand feed from Connor to finish off another rush.
Adam Lowry scored into an empty net with 3:13 remaining to make it 5-2.
Walker answered with a goal to cut it to 5-3 with 53 seconds left.
“We’re onto the next one,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought that was our worst game and that was their best game.”
“They got the better of us tonight, but we’ve got Game 6 at home and a job to do,” St. Louis defenseman Justin Faulk said.
Winnipeg forward Gabriel Vilardi returned after missing 15 games with an upper-body injury, and he took the first shot on goal before Connor scored on the second for a 1-0 lead at 1:23.
Appleton kicked the puck to teammate Mark Scheifele behind the St. Louis net, and Scheifele passed it out front to Connor for a one-timer from the left hash marks.
The Blues quickly tied it at 1 at 3:42.
Walker was stationed in front of Hellebuyck when he tipped in Parayko’s wrist shot from above the right circle.
Niederreiter then pulled up in front of Binnington and tipped in a shot to move Winnipeg back ahead 2-1 at 8:39 of the first.
Scheifele did not return after the first period because of the effects of a hit by Brayden Schenn earlier in the period, resulting in an interference penalty on Schenn. Montgomery said after the game that Scheifele was injured on a hit by Radek Faksa, not the hit from Schenn that brought the penalty.
Jets coach Scott Arniel was non-committal postgame when asked whether Scheifele would make the trip to St. Louis.
“We’ll just wait and see where we’re at,” Arniel said. “See how he is later tonight. See tomorrow.”
Scheifele was second on the Jets in goals (39) and points (87) during the regular season.
“It’s hard losing your best player, but at the same time we’ve dealt with this all year with injuries, so it’s the next-man mentality,” Namestnikov said of Scheifele.
–Field Level Media
