Jets open road trip with 4-0 beatdown of Blues

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This article was published 22/02/2018 (2251 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. LOUIS — Who said life on the road was so bad?

The Winnipeg Jets, playing their first game away from Bell MTS Place since Jan. 25, started slowly but broke out with three unanswered goals in the first period en route to a convincing 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues Friday night.

The visitors seemed to rope-a-dope for the opening 10 minutes, getting outshot 7-0, before breaking out with goals by Nic Petan, Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor. The markers by Petan and Wheeler, on Winnipeg’s third and fourth shots of game, came 44 seconds apart and sucked the life out of the normally raucous Scottrade Center crowd.

Eventually, there were boos for the Blues, and plenty of them. 

Mathieu Perreault had a glorious chance to push the lead on a breakaway shortly after Wheeler’s goal but his shot was turned aside by Blues goaltender Jake Allen. Allen made 18 saves but Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was mistake-free, handling 33 shots. It was Hellebuyck’s 32nd victory and sixth shutout of the season. 

“I was seeing pucks, seeing it well and the guys were doing the right things in front of me,” said Hellebuyck, who has three shutouts in six career starts against St. Louis. “They were taking their guys and clearing rebounds and they were giving me sightlines. That’s all I ask of them and they did a phenomenal job at it.”

Did Wheeler think it was a near-perfect road game?

“The score would indicate it was,” he said. “I thought we could’ve been a little better but Connor played well and we got off to a nice lead in the first and were able to cruise from there. 

“I thought we took our foot off the gas a little bit. (I) thought we could’ve done a little bit more in the third but that’s a proud group on the other side, too. They’re pushing.” 

Added Jets head coach Paul Maurice: “We had about 30 minutes where we were really, really good after that. Again, on the puck really well. Knocked a lot of stuff down and countered quickly off that. So, it was maybe not the start we wanted but you would expect that start from St. Louis and they were good. We were able to get up to our speed and play pretty solid.”

Winger Patrik Laine made it 4-0 early in the second, ripping a perfectly placed shot from just inside the faceoff circle over Allen’s blocker. Laine’s team-leading 29th goal of the season came after a spinning, rink-wide pass from Nikolaj Ehlers in the neutral zone.

Maurice specifically mentioned the performances of centre Mark Schiefele, who had two assists in 19:18 of ice time, and defencemen Josh Morrissey and Dustin Byfuglien. Byfuglien had a team-high 25:01 on the ice.

“We talk a lot about Mark Scheifele being a great player — and he is,” said Maurice. “I thought in the grinding part of the game early he was really good… Dustin Byfuglien has played exceptionally well here, going back a couple of weeks. He and Toby (Enstrom) as a pair, (did) a great job. And if we could just qualify that — every game Josh Morrissey makes huge plays, blocks shots. He’s fantastic.”

Winnipeg remains second in the Central Division with a 36-16-9 record, nine points clear of the fifth-place Blues and two behind the front-running Nashville Predators. St. Louis has lost five straight, a sobering fact for a team that set the early pace in the division.

The Jets, who went 6-3-1 during a recent 10-game homestand, face the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center tonight at 6 p.m. (Sportsnet, TSN 1290) before returning home to play the Predators in another pivotal Central matchup Tuesday. Hellebuyck was asked if he would be rested and ready to play the Stars, despite the quick turnaround.

“I’ll always be ready when my name’s called but it’s the coach’s decision and if he decides on another guy, I’m going to be there to support him,” he said.

NOTEWORTHY: Winnipeg went 1-for-5 on the power play while St. Louis was 0-for-4… Winnipeg goaltenders Michael Hutchinson, who served as Hellebuyck’s backup Friday, and Steve Mason are both travelling with the team after recovering from concussions. Forward Brandon Tanev (lower body) skated in a non-contact jersey Friday morning. Centre Adam Lowry (upper body), winger Shawn Matthias (upper body) and blue-liner Jacob Trouba (lower body) remain sidelined… Blues defenceman Joel Edmunston, a Brandon product, is out for another four weeks after suffering a broken right forearm… Attendance was a sellout of 18,912.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14