The Winnipeg Jets beating a Central Division foe is as close to a sure bet as there is in the NHL this season.
The Jets continued their strong divisional play Tuesday night, taking down the St. Louis Blues 4-2 to improve their record within the Central to 16-3-1, the best mark for any NHL squad against teams within their division this season.
Kyle Connor scored the game-winning goal for the third straight game and Alex Iaffalo ended a 20-game goalless drought as the Jets won their fourth straight contest.
“You go through slumps, I mean, it sucks, you never want to do that,” said Iafallo. “But at the same time you got to do anything to help the team out. You gotta play good defensively blocking shots, whatever it is. I just try to focus on that if you’re not scoring.”
Connor has goals in four straight games and has notched five markers during the span. Josh Morrissey is also on a tear as he recorded two more assists to give him 10 helpers in just the last four games.
The Jets have wins in seven of their last eight matches, but they still haven’t been at their best in recent outings.
“We know the recipe for us when we’re playing well,” said defenceman Brenden Dillon. “First two periods were a little bit, I think, too high event hockey there. End-to-end and back-and-forth and we know how good of a team they are off the rush, and how much skill they have. So, I think once we started to respect that, use our size, grind it out down there, we saw the success we can have.
“We’re not really happy with how we’ve played the last few, but we’re getting wins.”
Dillon and Sean Monahan had their other tallies with Dillon setting a new career high with his seventh goal of the season.
“It feels good,” Dillon said. “I might have jinxed myself after I missed that wide open empty net a couple of games ago. I think it’s just been a lot of fun to have the success we’re having this year as a group.”
Connor Hellebuyck had the night off as Laurent Brossoit stopped 36 of 28 shots.
“He was great again tonight,” said head coach Rick Bowness. “He’s been very consistent with his level of play. After the first couple of games early in the season, he’s been wonderful.
“We have no hesitance at all to put him in the net against anybody.”
The win combined with a loss by the Dallas Stars on Tuesday leaves the two teams tied for the division lead heading into Thursday’s matchup in Dallas.
The Jets got on the board first at the 8:53 mark when Nikolaj Ehlers got the puck along the boards in the Blues end, skated down the wall and fed a perfect pass to Monahan in the slot. He wired it past Winnipegger Joel Hofer to make it 1-0 with his sixth goal since joining the team.
Just 87 seconds later, Dillon made it 2-0 when a faceoff was won back to him and he ripped a slapshot that beat Hofer clean from the point.
The Blues answered back only 30 seconds later. With Winnipeg scrambling to track down the puck in their own end, Marco Scandella sent a shot on goal from the point. Brossoit got a glove on it but the puck trickled to the side of the crease where Pavel Buchnevich was waiting to pot his 23rd of the season.
Winnipeg restored the two-goal lead with 4:27 to go. Morrissey made a great play in his own end to turn the puck over and send it ahead to a streaking Connor. He skated down the wing and beat Hofer low for his 24th of the season to make it 3-1 after 20 minutes.
The Blues cut into the deficit just shy of the midway point of the second period. A mad scramble in front of the Jets net resulted in Brandon Saad whacking the loose puck off the crossbar and it fell just inside the goal line to make it 3-2.
Both goalies were busy in the second with St. Louis outshooting Winnipeg 15-12 for a two-period total of 27 shots for the Blues and 25 for the Jets.
Each team had a failed power play chance in the first half of the third period as Winnipeg clung to their one-goal lead, but just past the midway point they restored their two-goal advantage.
Ehlers made a great move in the slot and fired the puck wide but after it bounced off the end-boards, it trickled back in front of the net where Iafallo whacked it between the legs of Hofer for his first goal since Jan. 2.
The Blues pulled the goalie with just over three minutes left and it became a 6-on-4 with 41 seconds left when Neal Pionk was called for a high-sticking penalty, but St. Louis couldn’t find the back of the net.
Brossoit picked up his ninth win of the season, while Hofer took the loss after stopping 28 shots.
The Jets will now hit the road for a huge tilt in Dallas Thursday night.