Dubois' Overtime Beauty Seals 4-3 Win for Jets

Pierre-Luc Dubois made no mistake and the Winnipeg Jets escaped St. Louis with a victory once again. Dubois took a beautiful pass from Nikolaj Ehlers and fired a bullet past St. Louis Blues netminder Jordan Binnington at 2:25 of overtime to give the Jets a well-earned 4-3 road win in a place where they seem to enjoy playing -- even more than at home. The Jets have now won three straight and 10 of their last 12 in St. Louis. The victory improved the Jets overtime record to 4-10 this season and, more importantly, improved their 2021-22 record to 27-23-10. "I liked our game today, I thought we made a lot of really good plays," said Jets assistant captain Mark Scheifele. "We had a few miscues but I like it when we're making plays and playing as a unit. That's the hockey we should be playing." This was a game the Jets probably should have won in regulation time. After all, they dominated St. Louis in the third period and had a 3-2 lead late in the game, but as they have done so many times this season, they allowed the opposition to score late to either win the game or send it to OT. On this occasion, however, the Jets prevailed in overtime because head coach Dave Lowry decided to go with a unit of three forwards -- Dubois, Ehlers and Kyle Connor. All three were involved with the winning goal as the trio took the play to the Blues every time they got on the ice. St. Louis opened the scoring on the power play at 16:48 of the first period as David Perron scored his 17th of the year from Vladimir Tarasenko and Torrey Krug. But the Jets tied it at the 10:48 mark of the second when Ehlers scored his 15th of the year on a two-on-nothing break with Dubois. Dubois fed Ehlers a perfect pass and he blistered it past Binnington. Connor also drew an assist. However, the Jets gave up a goal to Tarasenko at the 19:33 mark of the second frame and as they've done so often this year, they've gone to the third period behind on the scoreboard. But this time they came back with a flourish. At the 6:30 mark of the third, Mark Scheifele banged home a rebound for his 22nd goal of the campaign as Blake Wheeler and Logan Stanley drew the assists. Then, just a minute and three seconds later, Connor scored his 37th of the year with a laser beam to the short side on Binnington. Connor also took over the league-lead for most games with a goal this season with 32. Neal Pionk stew the only assist. However, despite the lead and despite the fact the Jets had been the dominant team in the third period, St. Louis tied it with six attackers at 17:49 of the third when Brayden Schenn took a great pass from Jordan Kyrou in the slot and one-timed it past a startled Connor Hellebuyck. That goal sent it to overtime and it was quite an eventful three-on-three. Ehlers almost scored early as his shot from a difficult angle went off Binnigton's shoulder and drilled in behind the goalie. With some help from his defence, the St. Louis netminder was able to keep the puck from crossing the line. Later, David Perron hauled down Mark Scheifele on a play that was an obvious holding penalty (it was actually a very skilled football tackle), but the two officials, Jake Brenk and Kendrick Nicholson either had a money-line wager on the Blues or they simply decided to bury their whistles. Instead of making the proper call, they allowed the Blues to take the puck the other way on a three-on-one break that was foiled by a marvellous save from Hellebuyck. Finally, Ehlers set up Dubois with the winner and the Jets had their fourth point out of a possible six on this three-game road trip. Dubois, Tarasenko and Connor were the three stars. The Jets outshot the Blues 37-31, 13-8 in the third period and 3-1 in overtime. Winnipeg also won 61 per cent of the face-offs while the Blues outhit Winnipeg 20-19. the Jets got some bad new in the third period. Andrew Copp was hit and injured in the third period and did not return to the bench from the locker room. Coach Lowry had to do some line shuffling after that as Copp apparently suffered another concussion. "We just have to hope and pray that he's OK," said Scheifele. "Obviously, I checked on him after the game and I hope things settle down and he feels better. "I didn't see the hit. I don't know whether it was dirty or clean, but I went over to their bench because when a teammate goes down, you know it's the way things are in this league, I had to go over and say something." Connor had the Jets best line with a goal and two assists. He was plus-the with five shot on goal and a takeaway in 24 minutes and 36 seconds of ice time. He also won 54 per cent of the face-offs he took. Dubois was next with a goal and an assist. He was plus-two with five shots and a takeaway in 21:58. The Jets don't get much time to rest. They'll play their seventh game in a stretch of just 12 days when they face the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night at Canada Life Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.