WINNIPEG, Manitoba – Paul Stastny got his 500th career assist Sunday, and that wasn’t even the highlight of the day for the former Blue. The 35-year-old Stastny, who played 267 games over four seasons for St. Louis, scored two goals to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-2 victory over the Blues at Canada Life Centre.
The Blues’ seven game point streak (5-0-2) is over as the team heads back to St. Louis at 17-9-5 overall. Back to St. Louis because their road games with Ottawa (Tuesday) and Toronto (Thursday) have been postponed due to COVID concerns.
For the third game in a row, the Blues were involved in a scoreless first period. There was plenty of action, however, including a mini-breakaway by Vladimir Tarasenko that was stopped by Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck with about eight minutes left in period.
And just 6 ½ minutes into the contest, Dakota Joshua fought with the Jets’ Nathan Beaulieu at center ice. Beaulieu got more punches in, but Joshua eventually wrestled Beaulieu to the ice. Slight edge: Beaulieu.
The Blues killed off two penalties, running their streak to 18 consecutive successful penalty kills, dating back seven-plus games. The Blues got their first power play late in the period and took 53 seconds of the man advantage into the second period.
With Oskar Sundqvist on the COVID list, the Blues played with fewer than the normal 12 forwards for the eighth time this season. They went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, with Scott Perunovich – out of the lineup the past two games – as the seventh defenseman.
For the most part, coach Craig Berube kept his fourth line intact – the “Springfield Line” of Joshua, Alexei Toropchenko and Matthew Peca. Instead, he rotated several players into the third line in Sundqvist’s spot, including Buchnevich.
Winnipeg broke the scoreless tie in the second period when Mark Scheifele passed from behind the net to Nikolaj Ehlers in the near slot. Ehlers swooped in ahead of Ivan Barbashev for his 12th goal of the season, so it was 1-0 at the 4:40 mark. Paul Statsny, the former Blue, got the secondary assist on the play for his 500th career assist.
The Blues entered the game a league-best 9-4-1 when allowing the game’s first goal, so not to worry, right? That certainly looked like the case when the Russians struck again later in the period. On a great cross-ice pass from Barbashev, Vladimir Tarasenko had a tap-in past Connor Hellebuyck for his team-leading 12th goal.
It was a 1-1 contest with 6:13 left in the second period. But just three minutes later, Scheifele was left alone in the slot and rocketed his eight goal of the season past Jordan Binnington for a 2-1 Winnipeg lead.
The lead grew to 3-1 early in the third period when Binnington didn’t get over in time and Stastny beat him back door.
With the clock winding down, Binnington drew a penalty for delay of game. He removed his helmet during the course of play, apparently upset over a non-call when a Winnipeg player ran into him in the crease.
During the penalty kill, the Blues made it a 3-2 game on a shorthanded goal by Niko Mikkola on a great feed from Ryan O’Reilly. But just 16 seconds later, while Winnipeg was still on the power play, Stastny struck again – this time from the slot – to make it a 4-2 game with just 5:16 to play.
