WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Despite all their success in recent years, the Blues haven’t been able to do much against the Winnipeg Jets.
OK, OK, there was that dramatic first-round playoff series in 2019, won by the Blues in six games. But the regular season? Different story.
Winnipeg's 4-0 win over the Blues on Monday night gave the Jets points in six straight games against St. Louis (6-0-1). And over the last 23 contests, the Jets are 17-4-2 against the Blues.
Goalie Thomas Greiss, making his first start as a member of the Blues, certainly deserved a better fate. Facing 43 shots, the most against the team so far this season, held the Blues in the contest until things unraveled over the last half of the third period.
It was a scoreless game until midway through the contest. And it was just 1-0 until Sam Gagner’s goal midway through the third, and then Morgan Barron’s goal three minutes later. After the Blues killed a five-on-three Winnipeg power play, the Jets got an empty-net goal from Cole Perfetti.
Greiss is nice
Greiss didn’t have to wait long to get warmed up Monday. The Jets kept him busy in the first period with 13 shots on goal. That matched the season high for a St. Louis opponent in any period in this young season — Columbus had 13 shots on in the second period of the season opener, on Oct. 15.
But the Blue Jackets scored twice in that second period; Greiss and the Blues kept Winnipeg off the scoreboard in the opening period. And that made it five straight periods — and one overtime session — that the Blues have kept the other team scoreless, dating to the third period of the Blues’ 4-3 overtime win over Seattle on Oct. 19.
Just 85 seconds into Monday’s game, Kyle Connor had a bead on Greiss on a two-on-one break, but the puck went right into the goalie’s breadbasket. Less than 4½ minutes in, Morgan Barron fired from in tight but was turned away.
Otherwise, several Winnipeg shots came from distance and with Greiss getting clean looks. So they were maybe less dangerous than they looked. (Easy for us to say, right?)
Special teams
Four games into the season, the Blues penalty-killing unit finally gave up a shot on goal — two in fact — late in the first period. But the period ended with still no power plays scored on St. Louis in three-plus games.
It was a strange penalty to take — with Brayden Schenn cross-checking Neal Pionk in front of the Winnipeg net. Pionk must have done something to aggravate Schenn earlier.
The Blues spent a lot of time shorthanded in the second period. First off, 1:16 of that Schenn penalty carried over from the first.
Then Niko Mikkola got two all-expenses paid trips to the penalty box, first for interfering with Pierre-Luc Dubois at the 5:20 mark and then then for tripping Mark Scheifele at the 17:06 mark. But the penalty-killing unit kept its slate clean — seven for seven this the season – by fending off everything.
First time for everything
For only the second time in franchise history, the Blues played three consecutive games at the start of a season without trailing. They made it to 3½ games Monday, but couldn’t tie the franchise record of four straight games.
Scheifele’s fourth goal of the season came with 9:30 left in the second period to break the scoreless tie, and put the Blues behind 1-0. It was the first goal allowed by the Blues in more than five periods, plus an overtime, dating to the second period of the team’s 4-3 overtime win Oct. 19 in Seattle.
All told, the scoreless streak lasted 114 minutes 9 seconds, or nearly two full games.
Scheifele’s goal came after two shifts in which the Jets enjoyed extended offensive zone time. Scheifele was left open net front, and after taking a pass from Josh Morrissey, made a quick move to beat Greiss.
Moment of silence
With a night shot of the Gateway Arch and the St. Louis skyline shown on the video board at Canada Life Centre, a moment of silence was held before puck drop in honor of the victims of Monday's St. Louis high school shooting.
