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WINNIPEG — 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.
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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.
Rookie Jimmy Snuggerud scored his first playoff goal and Jordan Binnington had 20 saves for the eighth-seeded Blues.
St. Louis hosts Game 3 on Thursday.
The Blues continued their hitting ways from the first game’s 5-3 loss and the Jets didn’t back down.
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Within the first minute of Game 2, St. Louis skaters delivered five hits. Winnipeg responded with a pair of their own.
Logan Stanley, the Jets’ 6-foot-7 defenceman, later crushed Jordan Kyrou into the boards. The forward carefully went to the bench with about seven minutes remaining in the period.
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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.
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.
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Snuggerud made up for the earlier bad bounce by sending the puck high over Hellebuyck’s blocker side on the man advantage with two seconds remaining in the period to make it 1-1.
Blues coach Jim Montgomery had 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 centre Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich. He said the motive was producing more offence.
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.
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.
The Blues got their fourth straight power play six minutes later, but Winnipeg’s defenders killed it.
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