Kyle Connor had a goal and two assists to propel the Winnipeg Jets to a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday that earned them a 3-2 lead in their opening-round playoff series.
Game 6 of the Western Conference best-of-seven battle goes Friday in St. Louis, where the Blues won the two previous games while extending their home record to 14 consecutive victories.
According to the NHL, teams that take a 3-2 lead in a series go on to win the series 79 per cent of the time (233-62).
The Presidents’ Trophy-winning Jets were without star centre Mark Scheifele after the first period. He was crushed into the boards by Blues captain Brayden Schenn early in the opening period.
Vladislav Namestnikov, who replaced Scheifele on the top line, recorded a goal and assist. Nino Niederreiter also had a goal and assist. Dylan DeMelo and Adam Lowry, into an empty net, also scored. Mason Appleton contributed three helpers in front of the whiteout crowd at Canada Life Centre.
Connor Hellebuyck made 16 saves for Winnipeg, which had top-line winger Gabriel Vilardi back in action after he missed 15 games with an upper-body injury.
Nathan Walker scored twice and rookie Jimmy Snuggerud also had a goal for the Blues. Jordan Binnington stopped 21 shots.
Winnipeg led 2-1 after the first period and 4-2 following the second.
After being outscored 12-3 in two losses in St. Louis, the Jets jumped out to a 1-0 lead 1:23 into the first period.
Scheifele sent the puck from behind the net out to Connor, who snapped it past Binnington.
The Blues quickly responded when Walker stayed in front of Hellebuyck and tipped in a point shot from Colton Parayko at 3:42.
St. Louis defenceman Cam Fowler also picked up an assist, extending his point streak to five games with one goal and eight assists. He leads the Blues in scoring.
Winnipeg got the game’s first power play after Schenn jumped up and crushed Scheifele into the boards. He was called for interference and then roughing after Jets forward Brandon Tanev defended his teammate.
Twenty-seven seconds after Schenn’s extra penalty expired, Niederreiter went net front and tipped in a Dylan Samberg shot at 8:39.
Both teams took four penalties, and had 17 hits each, as the temperatures rose during the opening period.
Scheifele, who took an earlier hit from Radek Faksa before the Schenn one, didn’t come out for the second period.
After the Jets only got one shot on goal in their second power play, Snuggerud scored his second goal of the playoffs with a low shot that went between Hellebuyck’s left pad and the post at 6:06.
DeMelo scored Winnipeg’s first second-period goal of the series when his point shot went off the back of Parayko and into the net at 11:05.
Connor sent a backhand pass across the front of the net to a rushing Namestnikov, who broke his 20-goal scoring drought to make it 4-2 with 1:09 remaining in the second.
Winnipeg outshot the visitors 14-3 in the middle period and 22-9 through 40 minutes.
Lowry beat a defender and added an empty-netter with 3:13 left. Walker scored with 53 seconds remaining.
Turning the tide
The Jets had gone 2-4 in previous Game 5s, including losing four straight.
Their last Game 5 victory was in the second round of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, when they beat the Predators 6-2 in Nashville.
