Joel Hofer made 24 saves for his fifth career shutout as the St. Louis Blues blanked the visiting Winnipeg Jets 1-0 on Wednesday night.
Justin Faulk scored for the Blues, who won their second game in their last three outings.
Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for the Jets, who have lost five of their last six (1-4-1).
St. Louis built an 11-1 shots advantage at one point in the first period while testing Hellebuyck from every angle.
Faulk fired a shot through traffic on a power play. Robert Thomas hit the post on a clean break-in. Hellebuyck turned away Pius Suter coming down the middle and Logan Mailloux bolting in from the right point.
The Jets didn’t generate much offense until they got a late first-period power play that carried over into the second period. They put four shots on goal with the man advantage, but couldn’t break through.
After Winnipeg mustered two shots on its next power play, the Blue regained control.
Thomas came down the middle unchecked for a shot from the slot, then Brayden Schenn took a lead pass from Philip Broberg for a breakaway.
Hellebuyck made the saves to keep the game scoreless.
The Blues finally broke the deadlock with 6:43 left in the second period. Pavel Buchnevich forced a turnover along the back wall on the forecheck, then Thomas fed Faulk coming down the middle for his goal.
Winnipeg made a push in the third period. Hofer made a glove save on Kyle Connor’s turnaround shot during a goalmouth scramble, then he made stops on Nino Niederreiter and Cole Perfetti to protect the lead.
With 41.6 seconds left to play, a 5-on-5 fracas broke out in the Blues’ zone. Jets defenseman Logan Stanley took the extra penalty, allowing the Blues to close out the victory on the power play while Hellebuyck was trapped in his net.
–Field Level Media
