Eric Comrie made 29 saves to win his fifth straight start, Haydn Fleury notched a goal and an assist and the host Winnipeg Jets cooled off the surging St. Louis Blues with a 3-2 victory Sunday.
Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor each scored their 31st goals for the Jets, who, like the Blues, entered with 64 points chasing the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Comrie recorded a career-high 11th win in his first action since Feb. 25. The Jets’ backup netminder has stopped 122 of 129 shots in his last five starts.
He made 14 saves in the third, when the Blues posted 16 shots and got goals from Dalibor Dvorsky and Dylan Holloway to make things interesting. Prior to Sunday, St. Louis was 6-0-1 in March and had won five straight on the road.
The Jets are 5-2-0 on an eight-game homestand.
Winnipeg opened the scoring just 2:31 into the contest. On the rush, via some precise passing from Morgan Barron and Brad Lambert, Fleury snapped the puck from the high slot past Jordan Binnington for his first goal since Dec. 19, 2023.
A little more than five minutes later, the Jets made it 2-0. After St. Louis’ Jordan Kyrou failed on an open look in front of Comrie, Scheifele quickly won the puck amid two Blues along the side boards, then broke in and went forehand-backhand to beat Binnington (13 saves).
St. Louis didn’t get many quality chances through the first two periods, but finally got one past Comrie at 5:17 into the third. Jonatan Berggren put on the brakes, then sent the puck toward the net for Dvorsky to tip in.
However, the Jets regained their two-goal lead with 8:07 remaining in regulation. On a delayed penalty with the extra skater on the ice, Fleury got the puck to Barron and he feathered a pin-point pass to Connor, who broke free and beat Binnington.
That score proved vital for the Jets, as a well-positioned Holloway converted amid a net-front scrum with Binnington pulled for an extra skater with less than a minute to play.
–Field Level Media
