Blues focused on ‘putting together 60 full ones’ after Game 2 loss

WINNIPEG -- It was another tight game, another opportunity for the St. Louis Blues to play spoiler and steal a game on the road in the Western Conference First Round.

But for the second straight game, the Winnipeg Jets had the answers in the third period and the Blues, despite playing some strong hockey through two games, have nothing to show for it.

“Winnipeg made one more play than us. Both games. Shots are dead even. So, they’re just making one more play and their best players are making them,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said after their 2-1 loss to the Jets in Game 2 at Canada Life Centre on Monday.

You really can’t sum it up better than that.

The Jets and Blues each had 22 shots on goal in Game 2. Add in tight checking, great goaltending at each end from the Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck and the Blues’ Jordan Binnington, and so much is so close between the two teams. But when it comes to finding that answer from anyone, superstar or otherwise, the Jets have found it, usually from the former.

For the second consecutive game, Jets top-line forward Kyle Connor ruined the Blues’ night by scoring the game-winning goal. This one came at 1:43 of the third period.

“Obviously they’re getting a couple of extra goals in the third. I don’t know, other than that, just continue to make sure we push as a group all three periods. That’s the biggest thing, putting together 60 full ones,” Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said.

“The playoffs are super tight, especially these Central Division games. Right from the regular season they’re all tight, (and) the playoffs are even tighter. So, one mistake could cost you a game.”

To that end, Montgomery thought the Blues could’ve done a better job on the sequence that led to Connor’s game-winning goal.

Jets forwards Mark Scheifele and Cole Perfetti battled Parayko and Blues forward Robert Thomas for the puck behind the net, with Perfetti getting it and passing it back to Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey. Then it was a pass to defenseman Luke Schenn, who found Scheifele behind the net. Once Scheifele got control, he passed to Perfetti, who found Connor for a wide-open one-timer in the slot.

“I thought we had good puck pressure on the play up top and I think that play should be killed behind the net by us. And then we’ve got to be able to cover,” Montgomery said. “We want to force the puck up high versus allowing 81 (Connor) to get a shot from the hash marks.”

But there were other opportunities for the Blues. Their power play was 2-for-3 in Game 1 and capitalized again when forward Jimmy Snuggerud scored on the man-advantage with two seconds remaining in the first period to tie it 1-1.

The Blues had three more power plays in Game 2, but they came up empty.

“Yeah, probably not as much shot volume, as we needed to get second and third chances or just to tire them out,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. “That’s something that we’re going to have to look at it. It’s a series of adjustments, and the power play has to do a better job to come up big for us in key moments.”

Jets coach Scott Arniel said Winnipeg’s penalty kill “did a fantastic job of being in sync.”

“They all had their different looks to them,” he said. “St. Louis has great puck movement. They do a good job of finding the weak side of the ice, and just us being able to recognize that and get back and get in that next lane, so to speak, and not allowing, whether that’s a shot or a pass -- we just did a really good job of reading off of each other.”

Now the best-of-7 series shifts to St. Louis, where the Blues will host the Jets at Enterprise Center on Thursday (9:30 p.m. ET; FDSNMW, ESPN2, SN, TVAS, CBC). The Blues are ready to have their raucous crowd behind them, to get that last line change and to get back into this series.

“Obviously, we can’t be down. We can’t focus on the last two games," Parayko said. "We can focus on the sense that we’re going to learn and take what we can from the positive side and learn from the things we maybe made mistakes on and how we can get better as a group in terms of playing them. Take that into Game 3, home ice. It’s going to be exciting.

“Just one game at a time. It’s a lot. It’s a seven-game series for a reason. We know where we’re at. Just make sure we go home and put our best foot forward and see where we land.”

The Blues are keeping things in perspective. It’s tough not to get frustrated with the way things have ended in each game, but it’s been so close between these two. For Snuggerud, it’s clear what will be the deciding factor in this series.

“Third periods, for sure,” he said. “You know, they had two good third periods the last (two) nights, so I feel like we have to have a stronger third period and we're working on it. That's our end goal is to win these games in the third, and that's what comes down to in the crunch time.”