Mark Scheifele reached 99 points on the season with two assists as the Winnipeg Jets won their third straight by defeating the host St. Louis Blues 3-2 on Thursday night.
Alex Iafallo, Josh Morrissey and Jonathan Toews scored for the Jets (35-31-12, 82 points). Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck made 20 saves.
Dylan Holloway for St. Louis (33-33-12, 78 points) had a goal and an assist. The Blues’ Colton Parayko also scored, while Jordan Binnington made 31 stops.
The win kept Winnipeg’s faint playoff hopes alive in its push for the final Western Conference wild-card spot, while the loss all but guaranteed St. Louis will miss the postseason.
The Blues opened the scoring with a no-look backhand pass from Robert Thomas that found Holloway’s stick. He made a series of quick moves before finishing on the power play at the 4:56 mark of the first period, giving St. Louis an early 1-0 lead.
Winnipeg evened the score at 1-1 at the 9:24 mark of the first when Scheifele delivered a backhand pass of his own from behind the net in the Jets’ offensive zone, finding Iafallo, who batted the puck into the net.
The Jets took a 2-1 lead with 5:49 remaining in the second period. A shot from high near the blue line by Jacob Bryson created a rebound that found its way onto Morrissey’s stick, and he buried it to give Winnipeg the advantage.
Winnipeg extended its lead to 3-1 just 1:40 later, when Cole Perfetti set up a one-timer for Toews, who wired a snapshot into the open cage.
St. Louis got within one with 7:00 remaining in the third period. Parayko finished off a dish from Jordan Kyrou off the rush to cut the Jets lead to 3-2. That would remain the final score.
–Field Level Media
