Jets shut out Blues 4-0

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This article was published 24/10/2022 (1086 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was the type of complete effort the Winnipeg Jets had been searching for and it led to their most impressive victory of the young season against the NHL’s last unbeaten team, to boot.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped all 25 shots he faced, while Mark Scheifele, Sam Gagner, Morgan Barron and Cole Perfetti (into an empty-net) all scored in a dominant 4-0 decision over the St. Louis Blues on Monday night in front of 13,936 fans at Canada Life Centre.

“Tonight was good for our team to play the way we did against a very, very good hockey team,” said Scheifele. “That was a pretty solid win.”

Winnipeg improves to 3-3-0, while the visitors fall to 3-1-0.

Given the quality of opposition to begin the year, the Jets will take the .500 record at this juncture. More importantly, they now have a template for success. We had seen it in spurts through the first five games, but never three straight periods strung together.

“Character is in this room and now we know the game plan that we need,” said Hellebuyck. “Felt like it was a step in the right direction. We know we have it in this room and we needed to show it for 60 minutes. Now that we have, now we have something to build on.”

Here’s a detailed breakdown of what went right on the night for the home team.

1) There’s something about the Blues that bring out the best in the Jets. Players talked about it before the game, after going 3-0-1 last year in four meetings. And then recent history repeated itself.

A smothering team defence that held a potent St. Louis lineup to just 25 shots. A penalty kill that gave up nothing. Some much-needed depth scoring, with three different lines chipping in. Plenty of physicality.

“We knew we were going against a team in St. Louis that made you work for every inch of the ice. We did a great job of battling, getting from zone to zone to zone, getting to their end of the rink,” said associate coach Scott Arniel.

No, it wasn’t perfect — the power play went 0-for-5 — but it was pretty, pretty good. The fact Winnipeg drew five man advantages (St. Louis had just two) was an accurate indicator of one team outworking the other.

Consider this: St. Louis came to town having just smothered Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers 2-0 on Saturday. And they were clearly the second-best team in this one, suffering their first shutout defeat in 109 games.

2) There’s no question head coach Rick Bowness loved what he saw from his club, as they seemed to embrace many of the lessons that have come their way. Unfortunately, he was at home for this one, the result of dizzy spells he experienced following the morning skate.

Bowness, 67, is coming off a battle with COVID-19 which he admitted over the weekend took a heavy toll on him. After missing the first four games of the year, he made his regular-season debut in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Toronto, but he clearly still wasn’t feeling himself, and he was in some obvious distress Monday morning as he spoke with media.

The session was cut short as he received medical attention, and the team announced later in the day he would spend some additional time recovering.

3) Are the Jets being taken lightly by opponents? Teams have now opted to play their backup goaltender, instead of their starter, in three of the six games so far.

Jaroslav Halak (not Igor Shesterkin) was in net for the New York Rangers in Winnipeg’s season-opening 4-1 victory. Adin Hill (not Logan Thompson) backstopped Vegas to a 5-2 win last week. And Thomas Greiss (not Jordan Binnington) got the call for St. Louis. You can’t fault Greiss for the loss, however. He stopped 39 of 42 shots he faced and was terrific.

It’s no secret teams will sometimes give their No. 1 the night off when they face what might be seen as a weaker rival. The Jets certainly won’t complain.

Of course, when Hellebucyk is on his game, it doesn’t really who the masked man at the other end is.

“He’s the heart and soul here. He’s a guy that stands on his head all night,” said Scheifele. “He made all the saves he needed to. He was fantastic again.”

4) Is Kyle Connor cursed? Winnipeg’s top pure goal scorer, coming off a season in which he netted 47, is severely snakebitten right now. His only tally was an empty netter against New York.

Prior to facing St. Louis, Connor admitted he was off to a slow start and both he and his teammates needed more urgency. We saw it in spades on Monday, even though Connor didn’t get rewarded. He had plenty of chances, including a second-period breakaway where it appears his stick got slashed by Justin Faulk. He also hit the crossbar in the final period.

In fact, his line with Scheifele and Mason Appleton — filling in for the injured Nikolaj Ehlers — had stretches of complete domination, where they hemmed the Blues in for long stretches of time as they whipped the puck around on the cycle.

The opening goal by Scheifele was Exhibit A, with Appleton winning a board battle, getting the puck to Josh Morrissey, who fired a shot on goal which Scheifele pounced on and scored.

“Honestly, we just made simple plays, didn’t try to do too much, got the puck behind them, made them turn all night. It’s tough when you play against that,” said Scheifele.

Connor finished with five shots on goal, and eight shot attempts. Nearly all of them seemed dangerous. If he keeps that up, it’s only a matter of time until the floodgates open.

5) Gagner might end up being one of the shrewdest depth signings by Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. Making just the league minimum of US $750,000, the 33-year-old 2007 first-round draft pick has already scored three times and always seems to be in the right place at the right time.

It’s why the coaching staff bumped him up from the fourth line to the third line against Toronto the other night, joining Barron and Adam Lowry.

That trio was a nightmare for the Blues, with Barron finally getting rewarded with his first of the year. Like Gagner, the puck seems to follow him around at times, and he’s always near the net.

“We’ve talked to the team on it. We want our lines all to look the same,” said Arniel.

“I know it sounds odd because of the skill sets of some guys. It looks the same when we’re defending. Looks the same when we’re coming through the neutral zone. Looks the same on the forecheck and then offensively, obviously get people to the net. And we were as close to looking that way (Monday) as we’ve been all year long.”

Up next: Winnipeg begins a three-game road trip on Thursday in Los Angeles, followed by stops in Arizona (Friday) and Las Vegas (Sunday).

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg