Top line lights it up

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This article was published 07/11/2023 (698 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. LOUIS — It had been a rather quiet road trip for the top line of the Winnipeg Jets. Too quiet, some would argue. But Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Alex Iafallo sure went out with a bang on Tuesday night.

The trio had a combined 10 points, leading their team to a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center. Connor scored twice and added an assist, Scheifele lit the lamp once and had two helpers, and Iafallo had a career-high four assists.

“They were outstanding,” associate coach Scott Arniel told the Free Press following the game. “All three of them, whether they had the puck and were making really good plays or dogging the puck to get it back. When those three are playing like that, they’re hard to play against.”

Neal Pionk and Cole Perfetti, into an empty net, had the other goals. Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn scored for the home team.

Winnipeg improves to 6-4-2, including 2-1-0 on this three game trek. The Jets have lost just once in regulation over the past eight (5-1-2). St. Louis falls to 5-5-1.

Let’s take a closer look at how this one was won.

1) An emotional scene: You could see by the look on his face that this was no ordinary goal for Pionk. The veteran defenceman scored his first of the year at 16:15 of the first period, taking a pass from Scheifele and ripping a shot past Jordan Binnington to give the Jets a 2-0 lead,

It’s been a difficult stretch for Pionk. His good friend, Adam Johnson, died in England 11 days ago after his throat was cut by an opponent’s skate. Pionk opened up to the Free Press about his grief last week in Arizona, saying it’s been all he can think about while trying to play hockey.

‘That was big. I know it hit him on the bench there after he did it. Everybody felt it a little bit,” said Arniel. “It’s been a really tough week-and-a-half, two weeks for him, the thing is, he’s played great hockey for us. It’s probably been a bit of a release for him to get on the ice and just play and maybe not think about those things. Again, he was fantastic tonight.”

Pionk, along with teammates Iafallo, Dylan Samberg and Dominic Toninato were flown from Tempe to Minnesota following Saturday’s 5-3 victory over the Coyotes so they could attend Johnson’s funeral on Sunday and his celebration of life on Monday. They re-joined the Jets Monday night in Missouri.

After Pionk scored, cameras showed him on the bench, visibly emotional, while Nikolaj Ehlers and Dylan DeMelo put their arms around him.

“It was a hell of a feeling honestly, just to see him smile and get that goal,” said Iafallo, who also played college hockey with Johnson and Pionk. “Just the stuff we’ve been through the past couple of days, for him to get that, it was pretty special.”

2) Scheifele and the special teams: It’s been a sleepy stretch for Winnipeg’s top centre, who began the night on a six-game scoring drought. It didn’t take him long to ensure that wouldn’t be extended as Scheifele finished off a pretty three-way passing play with Iafallo and Connor just 8:44 into the game.

His fifth of the season gave the Jets a 1-0 lead. It also was the third straight game Winnipeg’s ice-cold power play had scored a goal, which is certainly a positive sign.

So, too, was the rapid puck movement on display, rather than the perimeter play and over-passing that has plagued the Jets in many games so far this year.

With a goal and assist in the first period, all Scheifele needed was a fight to complete his third-career Gordie Howe hat trick — which, incredibly, would have moved him out of a tie with Howe himself on the all-time list.

There was more good work on the power play in the middle frame, when Connor took a shot that appeared to hit Blues defenceman Nick Leddy before beating a surprised Binnington. That made it a 3-1 game.

“That happens so often. You make all of these beautiful plays and the goalie robs you and the next thing you know I’m over on the far side, getting to the net, goes off their d-man’s stick and it goes in,” said Connor.

“That’s the type of stuff that happens. You gotta create your own luck out there. But at the same time, I thought we were playing well. Even Scheif’s first goal there, we’ve talked about that play a million times. It just happened to hit tonight, and we were executing well.”

3) A little help from his friends: They say you have to be good to be lucky, and Connor Hellebuyck was both on this night.

Early in the first period, defenceman DeMelo stopped what looked like a sure goal when he got in the way of a puck during a St. Louis power play.

In the second period, both Nate Schmidt and Vlad Namestnikov got their turn as they bailed out Hellebuyck. Later in the frame, St. Louis rang one off the post.

“There were some wild situations where (Hellebuyck) did get caught out of the net and some guys were playing road hockey goaltending,” said Arniel. “But that’s the sacrifice, doing those things to keep the puck out of the net.”

When Hellebuyck is at his best, he plays a style that can best be described as big and boring. That wasn’t quite the case in this one, with him spending more time than usual swimming around his crease and, at times, getting caught out of position.

Fortunately, he had some backup.

4) Extra, Extra – Winnipeg finished two-for-three on the power play, while St. Louis didn’t cash in on their one chance.

Hellebuyck stopped 20 of 22 shots, while Binnington was much busier and turned aside 32 of 36 pucks that came his way.

Winnipeg’s healthy scratches were once again forward Dominic Toninato (ninth straight game since being called up from the Manitoba Moose following the injury to Gabe Vilardi) and defencemen Declan Chisholm (12th straight game) and Logan Stanley (11th game out of 12th)

Speaking of Vilardi, Tuesday marked exactly three weeks since he suffered a sprained MCL against the Los Angeles Kings. His recovery timeline was estimated between four-to-six weeks. However, he has yet to resume skating, so the low-end of that range seems unlikely.

Arniel did say that Vilardi is doing lots of off-ice physical work on the injured knee and could soon hit the ice, although an exact timeline for a return to playing action is not yet clear.

The Jets flew home after the game and will now get ready for five straight games at Canada Life Centre beginning Thursday with a visit from the Nashville Predators.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg