Jets rally to defeat Blues in Game 1 of Western 1st Round

WINNIPEG -- Kyle Connor broke a tie with 1:36 remaining in the third period, and the Winnipeg Jets rallied for a 5-3 win against the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.

“That’s Winnipeg Jets hockey where you’re rolling around the O-zone,” Connor said. “Getting possession, early changes, getting the next line out there, keep doing it, hemming teams in.”

Connor made it 4-3 with a one-timer from low in the right face-off circle off a pass from Mark Scheifele.

“It was obviously a great play by ‘Scheif,’” Connor said. “Just try to get it off quick.”

Scheifele said, “All I want to do is put the puck in his hands and he does some fantastic things. Like I said before, I’m lucky to play with him. He’s absolutely fantastic, he shoots the puck fantastic, he does so many little things fantastic. Like I said a million times, he’s amazing to play with.”

Connor and Scheifele each had a goal and two assists, and Josh Morrissey had two assists for the Jets, who are the No. 1 seed in the West and won the Presidents’ Trophy with the NHL’s best regular-season record (56-22-4). Connor Hellebuyck made 14 saves.

“Scheifele came around the top and it was tough to find where it was through the traffic there,” Blues goalie Jordan Binnington said of the game-winning goal. “He’s good at finding those holes and [Connor] got a good shot off. It is what it is and it’s the life of a goaltender. You’ve got to regroup and focus on the next one.”

Winnipeg scored three straight goals in the third after trailing 3-2.

“I didn’t think we managed the game very well in the third period,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “Penalties. Puck management. A little bit of our emotions. … Our habits weren’t very good tonight. Defensively, we weren’t very good tonight. We’ll get better.”

Robert Thomas, Oskar Sundqvist and Jordan Kyrou scored for the Blues, who are the second wild card from the West. Justin Faulk had two assists, and Binnington made 21 saves.

“Tomorrow's a new day, and it's going to be a long series,” St. Louis captain Brayden Schenn said. “Two good teams that play tight defensively and like I said, obviously [we] would have liked to have a better third period, but move on and worry about Game 2, and we're going to get better.”

Game 2 of the best-of-7 series will be in Winnipeg on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS2, ESPN2, FDSNMW).

Thomas gave the Blues a 1-0 lead on the power play at 9:31 of the first period. Cam Fowler kept the puck in the offensive zone with a flip pass to Thomas, who scored with a shot from the left face-off dot.

"I thought [in] the first period we looked real nervous,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “Just trying to find our way, get going. Built it up in the second but then stuck with it and really played well in the third.”

The Jets scored twice in a span of 1:24 to take the lead.

Scheifele tied it 1-1 at 13:38, 16 seconds into a power play. His centering-pass attempt from the left side of the net went off the stick of Blues defenseman Ryan Suter and over Binnington’s shoulder.

Jaret Anderson-Dolan then made it 2-1 at 15:02 after he and Morgan Barron each got a piece of Luke Schenn’s point shot through traffic.

“It's another level from regular season in the playoffs,” Sundqvist said. “It’s a tight game. It’s two teams playing physical and playing north, so it certainly goes up and down throughout games. I think we have to be better at managing when they’re pushing forward.”

Sundqvist tied it 2-2 at 18:10. Luke Schenn stopped Zack Bolduc’s shot with his left skate but missed on a clearing attempt, leaving the puck for Sundqvist to score from the low slot.

“That first period it was kind of a little bit wacky and we were a little bit sloppy,” Arniel said. “And then all of a sudden, second period, we started to do some things that we talked about. Got some zone time. Started to create chances and then it kind of built towards that third, and it was a real good third period.”

Kyrou put St. Louis in front 3-2 on the power play at 1:13 of the second period. With Sundqvist in front screening Hellebuyck, Kyrou stepped up from the point and scored with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle.

“We had the lead, and obviously they’re going to press a little more and that’s just the game of hockey,” Binnington said. “I feel like we played a hard game. A lot of good things to take away from this game for sure. It’s just back to drawing board for the next game. It’s one game at a time, we know that. Whether you win or lose, you’ve got to focus on that next game.”

Alex Iafallo tied it 3-3 at 9:18 of the third with a quick shot from the doorstep after Scheifele fed him with a spinning pass from behind the net.

After Connor gave the Jets the lead, Adam Lowry scored into an empty net at 19:07 for the 5-3 final.

“You know what, I think it feels like every year Game 1 in each series, [it’s] a bit of a bloodbath,” said Lowry, the Winnipeg captain. “Teams are both trying to assert their dominance. Everyone's amped up. Our style of game is, we want to be a fast forechecking team, heavy, hard to play against. … They played hard. They did a real good job of making it tough to get to the net. It was a real tight game, and it was nice to come out on top of that one.”

NOTES: With 41 career Stanley Cup Playoff points (22 goals, 19 assists), Scheifele passed Blake Wheeler (39) for the most in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history. … Connor scored his fourth game-winning playoff goal and tied Paul Stastny for the most in franchise history. … Connor and Scheifele each has 19 assists in his playoff career. They passed Dustin Byfuglien (18) for the second most in franchise history, trailing only Wheeler (30). … Brayden Schenn had a game-high nine hits.