Hellebuyck, Wheeler fuel Jets past Blues
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Winnipeg Jets kept their faint playoff hopes alive with a scrappy performance in defeating the St. Louis Blues 3-0 at the MTS Centre Friday night.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 29 shots to record his fourth shutout of the season while captain Blake Wheeler scored the winner as the Jets pulled to within four points of the second wild-card berth in the Western Conference.
After a lackluster first two periods, the Blues finally came to life in the second half of the third but the Jets were able to stem the tide. Center Bryan Little applied the dagger when he outraced Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo on a dump into the St. Louis zone with their goalie on the bench to give the Jets a 2-0 lead. Wheeler added a second goal into the empty net with 69 seconds remaining.
The Jets opened the scoring on the power play just past the halfway point of the first period when Wheeler unloaded a one-timer that beat Carter Hutton low to the stick side at 10:51.
The captain's goal was the result of some tic-tac-toe passing from left winger Mathieu Perreault and defenseman Dustin Byfuglien.
Despite a wide edge in territorial play, the Jets were unable to add to their lead despite outshooting the Blues 30-19 after two periods and 19-8 in the second period alone.
The usually boisterous crowd went eerily silent in the middle of the second frame after St. Louis right winger Ryan Reaves hit the Jets Nik Ehlers with a head-on-head hit as the left winger was trying to bat the puck out the air with his glove. Ehlers crumpled to the ice in a heap and was attended by the Jets training staff before going to the dressing room Despite replays showing the head contact, Reaves -- a Winnipeg native -- was assessed just a two-minute minor for roughing.
Ehlers missed several shifts but returned before the end of the second period.
NOTES: In the pressbox for the Jets are D Tyler Myers, D Mark Stuart, G Ondrej Pavelec and LW Nic Petan. ... Joining them from the Blues are RW Nail Yakupov, D Jordan Schmaltz, C Kyle Brodziak and RW Dmitrij Jaskin. ... St. Louis RW Ryan Reaves has more support than most visiting players in Winnipeg. His dad, Willard, was a running back for the Canadian Football League's Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the mid-1980s. ... The other Winnipeg-born member of the Blues is C Alex Steen, whose dad, Thomas, was a top player for Winnipeg Jets 1.0 in the '80s and '90s. ... Friday night's game starts a string of 11 out of 15 at home for the Jets.