WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Two periods of excellent goaltending and special teams for the Blues went up in smoke in a few minutes' time in the third period.
After taking a 2-0 lead early in the third, the next four goals belonged to Winnipeg in a 4-2 victory Monday night at Candada Life Centre.
The Blues head into the All-Star/bye week break with a 23-25-3 record and a five-game losing streak.
Nikita Alexandrov gave the Blues a 2-0 lead early in the third period off the rush and off a feed from Josh Leivo. But Josh Morrissey brought the crowd to life on a rush goal of his own, making it a 2-1 game with 17:18 left in the game.
They got more life when Mark Scheifele scored off a turnover by Justin Faulk deep in the St. Louis zone at the with 10:28 left to tie it at 2-2. The onslaught continued when Morrissey scored again, this time on a shot that deflected in off Brayden Schenn to make it 3-2 just 21 seconds later.
Scheifele wrapped it up with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
It marked the 23rd time the opposing team has scored at least three goals in one period against the Blues this season.
Penalties, plus
It only seemed like Winnipeg was on one continuous power play in the second period.
Colton Parayko went off for interference at the 2:53 mark.
Ivan Barbashev went off for hooking at 8:20.
Next it was Nick Leddy for tripping at 15:20, followed by Alexey Toropchenko for high-sticking at 16:47.
The Parayko call, in particular, seemed like a soft one. The Barbashev penalty had coach Craig Berube barking at the officiating crew.
But the Leddy and Toropchenko infractions would have been penalties just about anywhere, anytime. And the timing of those two whistles gave Winnipeg a five-on-three advantage for 25 seconds.
The Blues’ penalty-killing unit was up to the task. It stopped the five-on-three, in fact it killed off every second of every penalty in the period. That led to a smattering of boos from the home crowd at times. This isn’t a vintage year for the Jets’ power play — they entered the night ranked 13th in the league, at 23.1 percent conversions.
But any team with the likes of Blake Wheeler, Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois on a power play can be a handful. The Blues kept them at bay, operating in a tight four-man box that occasionally moved out aggressively when it had a chance to get to the puck.
Aided by all those power plays, Winnipeg outshot St. Louis 19-7 in the period — with eight of those shots on goal coming on various power plays.
In contrast to that, the Blues had only one power play opportunity in the second period, and cashed in with a Jake Neighbours goal for a 1-0 lead. Neighbours, who hadn’t scored a goal since Jan. 16, against Ottawa, took a stretch pass from Torey Krug for a breakaway.
He calmly and skillfully deked Connor Hellebuyck, flipping in his fourth goal of the season somewhat to the disbelief of the crowd at Canada Life. Goalie Jordan Binnington got a secondary assist on the goal, which came with 5:24 left in the second. It was Binnington’s third career assist in the NHL.
Heavy workload
The two goalies with the heaviest workloads in the NHL were between the pipes Monday at Canada Life. For Winnipeg, Hellebuyck made his league-high 40th start of the season. For St. Louis, Binnington made his 39th start of the season — the second-highest start total in the league.
No parade is necessary, but this was easily the Blues’ best opening period since the losing streak started. They had some good possession sequences and checked much better than they have recently.
They got 12 shots on goal against Hellebuyck, but he was a master of positioning — as if anticipating where the puck was going virtually every time. And that made the saves look fairly routine.
The Jets also had 12 shots on goal but Binnington had to do some work to stop all 12.
On an early 2-on-1 rush by the Jets, Binnington stopped Saku Maenalanen at the 2:36 mark.
At the 6:27 mark, Binnington made a glove save on an open look from Mark Scheifele from the near slot.
Pierre-Luc Dubois broke in alone with 5:41 left in the period, but Binnington kicked it away with his right leg.
The save of the period came when Maenalanen tried to go backdoor on Binnington off a 2-on-1 rush but the goalie slid over to get his left leg on it and then sprawled forward to corral the puck with both hands about 35 seconds later.
And then there was that double-minor against Nikita Alexandrov for high-sticking Kyle Connor just 3:37 into the contest. Not only did the Blues kill it, they allowed only one shot on goal over the entire four minutes.
The Blues’ penalty-killing unit has been clicking lately, stopping 21 of the opponents’ last 23 power play opportunities over the last 10-plus games.
Lineup tweaks
Robert Thomas was out on the ice for just a few brief moments during Monday’s morning skate. But he couldn’t do much and was done for the day. And the night.
He missed his second consecutive game because of a lower-body injury, meaning he won’t play again until the Blues return from their break.
“He’s still not feeling good enough yet,” Berube said. “He came out just to skate and see how it felt. He’s just not even walking very well. He’s gonna get a week here to rest up and he’ll probably be good to go (after the break).”
Thomas has not played since taking a puck to the groin area in Thursday’s contest, against Arizona.
Berube switched centers on the bottom two lines, moving Nikita Alexandrov up to the third line and Logan Brown down to the fourth line.
On defense, Calle Rosen returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch in Colorado, replacing Robert Bortuzzo.
