Jets take 2nd straight over Blues as Kyle Connor nets OT winner
Kyle Connor scored 6:02 into overtime and the Winnipeg Jets beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Tuesday night to tie their best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series at two games apiece.
Mark Scheifele also scored and Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves for the Jets, who arrived in St. Louis down 2-0. It is the only first-round series in which the home team has failed to win a game.
Game 5 is Thursday night back in Winnipeg.
Vladimir Tarasenko scored and Jordan Binnington made 36 saves for the Blues.
Connor ended it when he banged home a feed from Scheifele for his third goal in two games.
Kyle Connor lifted the <a href=”https://twitter.com/NHLJets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@NHLJets</a> to their first postseason overtime win in franchise history. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NHLStats?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#NHLStats</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/StanleyCup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#StanleyCup</a> <a href=”https://t.co/cnvJdopbqg”>pic.twitter.com/cnvJdopbqg</a>
—@PR_NHL
Tarasenko beat Hellebuyck with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle 35 seconds into the third period to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. The power-play goal, Tarasenko’s eighth career in the post-season, moved him into a tie with Brian Sutter and Al MacInnis for fourth in franchise history.
Scheifele tied it at the 7:33 mark, tipping in a feed from Connor. It was Scheifele’s second goal of the series.
After a slow start in Game 3, the Blues came out strong in the first period. They built an 8-0 advantage in shots on goal as it took the Jets almost 11 minutes to test Binnington, who came up with a couple of saves on a Winnipeg power play to keep the game scoreless.
Pat Maroon had a pair of chances to give the Blues the lead in the second period, hitting the post off a pass from Tyler Bozak and getting stopped by Hellebuyck on a partial break.
Binnington came up big on a point-blank chance from Scheifele early in the second, and Brandon Tanev hit the crossbar on a breakaway midway through the period.