Dubois nets two, Hellebuyck stops 29 in Jets 5-2 win over Blues

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This article was published 08/12/2022 (1054 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. LOUIS — If it were up to the Winnipeg Jets, they’d likely opt to play the St. Louis Blues in all 82 regular-season games.

The Jets continued their dominance over their Central Division foe, earning a 5-2 road victory over the Blues Thursday night. Winnipeg is 2-0 against St. Louis this season, including a 4-0 drubbing back on Oct. 24, and have now won their past four games at the Enterprise Center, a rink they’ve become very comfortable in, with victories in 11 of their last 13.

How about a couple more for the road: the Jets are on an eight-game point streak against St. Louis (7-0-1) and have a record of 18-4-2 in the previous 24 meetings.

“We just have a ton of respect for them and we come into games against them knowing how we have to play the game,” Jets forward Blake Wheeler said. “You saw tonight, we get off our game for even a few minutes and the puck’s in our net. We have a lot of respect for them and I think that’s what it’s all about.”

The Jets improved to 17-7-1 with the win and have now won three straight and six of the last seven. The Blues fall further from the playoff line with the loss — their fifth defeat in the last six games — dropping to 12-15-0.

Let’s dive a bit deeper into this one with some news, notes and analysis from the win.

1) The Jets had a wrench thrown into their plans just minutes into the game, when forward Saku Maenalanen appeared to injure his shoulder following a heavy hit by Blues defenceman Niko Mikkola. Maenalanen immediately made his way to the bench and down to the locker room, with the Jets ruling him out of the game before the first period expired.

That forced Winnipeg to juggle the lines, resulting in various combinations based on the game flow. Give the Jets credit for finding a way through the chaos, looking no worse for wear over the final 55 minutes of the game.

“It’s a big wrench. That’s been a very good line, and he’s been playing the best hockey of the whole year the last five or six games,” Jets head coach Rick Bowness said of Maenalanen. “He’s been outstanding for us. So that’s a big hole. You just spread the minutes out.”

Bowness singled out forwards Jasen Harkins and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby for having to play both wings throughout the game, as well as the penalty killers for filling the void left by Maenalanen. The Jets PK went 2-for-2 on the night, with the power play also perfect on the night, as Wheeler notched his eighth of the season on Winnipeg’s only trip to the man-advantage. The Jets now have a power-play goal in each of their last six games (8-for-20).

2) Jets centre Pierre-Luc Dubois said prior to the season that he sat down with Bowness and together they set a goal to develop him into one of the best two-way centres in the NHL.

The 24-year has certainly been living up to his end of the deal and was once again a force for the Jets on Thursday, scoring twice and adding an assist. The three-point night extended his point streak to seven games, with the 24-year old registering 12 points (5G,7A) over that stretch.

Going out there every night and trying to be a difference maker on both ends of the ice. Some games I’ve done a good job and some games maybe tilted the wrong way,” said Dubois. “It’s a process. That’s what I want to become and I want to help this team. It’s a long process, but I think with hard work, video, and conversations with the staff, I have no doubt I can get there.”

Dubois opening the scoring late in the first period, coverting a pass in front from Mark Scheifele, who also assisted Wheeler’s power-play marker to give him 600 career points. Dubois then scored again to make it a 4-1 game midway through the third, the goal coming after some heavy pressure by the Blues.

3) It’s becoming harder and harder to come up with different adjectives to describe what Connor Hellebuyck means to this team.

The Jets goaltender had another stellar night, turning aside 29 of 31 shots in the win. In 20 starts this season, Hellebuyck is 14-5-1, with a 2.24 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage.

But but as good as he’s been all season, the 29-year-old Michigan native has been nearly unbeatable over the last couple of weeks. Hellebuyck has won his last six starts, and has stopped 196 of 208 shots over that stretch for an eye-popping .942 save percentage.

“You knew they were going to come out throwing everything that they could at the net, which they did. Again, we bent but didn’t break,” said Bowness. “I talk a lot about timely saves and timely goals and tonight is a perfect example. He is a wall back there, man – and I love the way that he competes.”

Thomas Greiss made his third straight start for the Blues, stopping 15 of 19 shots. Kyle Connor beat him just seconds into the middle frame, while Cole Perfetti added an empty-netter to round out the Jets scoring.

4) Logan Stanley made his return to the lineup for the first time since suffering a broken bone in his foot during a game against the Blues on Oct. 24.

The 24-year-old defenceman got off to a strong start, drawing the second assist on the game’s opening goal by Dubois. Stanley played alongside Nate Schmidt on the third pairing, resulting in Dylan Samberg being pulled after playing the last 13 games.

Samberg was ultimately a healthy scratch.

“We wanted to get Logan back in. He’s a big, physical presence back there for us,” said Bowness. “He played well before he got hurt and it wasn’t that Dylan was playing poorly, because he wasn’t. Goal and an assist last game. But we wanted to get Logan in there because of his size and physicality.”

5) Every win is worth two points but not all victories are equal. Not when you’re playing within the same conference and particularly against teams in the same division.

The Jets have been a wrecking ball in the Central so far this season, posting a 9-2-0 record. Thursday’s victory kept the Jets tied for first place in the Central, with the Dallas Stars earning a 4-3 overtime win over the Ottawa Senators Thursday.

“We’ve always thought it’s right at the top there with one of the toughest divisions in the league,” said Wheeler. “Every team is strong and you just can’t take a night off in our division.”

The Jets have another divisional battle Friday night against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center. Winnipeg is 2-0 versus Chicago this season, outscoring its opponent 11-2 in those games.

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton