JETS BLUES BANG AROUND CANADA LIFE CENTRE IN A HARD-NOSED 2-1 JETS WIN
The Whiteclads at the Canada Life Centre had plenty to cheer about on Monday night. And for the second time in three nights their beloved Winnipeg Jets responded to the din.
It was scream time once again at the White House on Portage and the Jets took everything the St. Louis Blues had to give and gave it all right back as they ground the Blues into the ice, winning 2-1 in a thriller.
As a result, the Jets will head into St. Louis for Thursday night’s Game 3, leading the first round of the Stanley Cup’s Central Division semifinal 2-0.
Once again, it wasn’t pretty, but it was pure Jets hockey. At least, it was 2024-25 Jets hockey. Skate, hit, grind, repeat. Don’t give the opponent anything, clog the middle, clean up the front of the net and let Connor Hellebuyck do what he does best – stop everything he can see.
“It’s fun, this is what you play for,” said Jets D-man Luke Schenn, who was brilliant once again. “When games are this physical and this tight and the compete-level is so high on both teams, these are the ones you love. These are the ones you want to be a part of. After a game like this you’ll go home and feel sore, but it’s a good sore. You’re tired, obviously, but when you come away with a win, it doesn’t hurt as much.”
Mark Scheifele, the game’s first star was full marks for the honour. He drove the net, battled in the corners, caused chaos in the neutral zone, backchecked with authority and even won more faceoffs than he lost.
For Scheifele, it was an almost perfect game. His aggressive net drive in the first period resulted in the game’s first goal. In the third period, his work behind the net, work that got Cole Perfetti the puck in an open spot, led to Kyle Connor’s winning goal. Scheifele was the best player on the ice for a lot of reasons.
Scheifele has now posted back-to-back multi-point games and has five points – two goals and three assists -- in the first two playoff games. He is the first player in franchise history to record multiple point outings in each of their first two games of any playoff year.
Connor scored the winning goal for the second straight night, and he was one of the better Jets checkers. He also didn’t get selfish and take chances after the Jets went ahead 2-1. He played safe and smart and did the job in every zone.
“They came hard again just like they did in Game 1,” Connor said of the Blues. “It was a tight checking game and there weren’t odd-man rushes. They weren’t going to get beat that way and we weren’t going to get beat that way. It just came down to who wanted it more and after we got that go-ahead goal, we just did a great job of clogging up the middle and just playing good D in our zone.”
These Jets are a resilient lot. Not many NHL teams could survive against a fast, hard-nosed lot like the Blues, a team that was red-hot down the stretch, with two of its best players out with injuries. But the Jets have taken a 2-0 series lead without Gabriel Vilardi and Nikolaj Ehlers.
And they’ve done it because the sound defensive hockey they played all season has been amplified in this series. To think that the Blues only goal in Game 2 came on a power play with less than one second remaining in the first period says a great deal about the Jets buy-in. A team full of skilled players who can score goals have so far checked their egos at the door and played smart, responsible, tough playoff hockey.
Most coaches would consider Monday night’s win a masterpiece. Forecheck hard, clog up the neutral zone and then play angry, aggressive hockey in your own end. It’s called a 200-foot game and it’s been played by all 18 Jets skaters.
I mean, really. When Logan Stanley is the third star because he laid Blues bodies all over the ice for the 10 minutes and seven seconds of ice time he received, it says that his physical contribution should be lauded. And it should.
But frankly, the best D-men on the ice were Josh Morrissey, Dylan Samberg and Luke Schenn. Samberg played 24 minutes and 30 seconds, Morrissey played 21 minutes and 53 seconds and Schenn played 17 minutes and 27 seconds. Schenn had seven hits and was plus-two; Morrissey had two shots, two takeaways, two blocked shots and was plus-one; and Samberg had two shots, two hits and two blocked shots.
They were all just so good.
Both teams had 22 shots on goal. But St. Louis had 10 in the first period and only 12 the rest of the way. The Jets also outhit the Blues 33-29 and make no mistake, St. Louis came to town looking to hit people. The Jets took none of it and gave most of it back.
Game 3 goes Thursday night in St. Louis. It’ll be close, just so long as the Jets keep doing what they’re doing.
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