ST. LOUIS – Kyle Connor took a shot at describing his team’s new place in the NHL before Thursday’s game in St. Louis.
“We’re on top of the Central,” the Winnipeg Jets winger said. “We’re a target right now.”
Nothing changed over the course of 60 minutes of hockey later that night, as the Jets skated away with a 5-2 victory.
Connor, Blake Wheeler and Pierre-Luc Dubois staked the Jets to a 3-0 lead and goalie Connor Hellebuyck held off a St. Louis push, improving the Jets’ division-leading record to 17-7-1 and burying the Blues just a little deeper in sixth place.
Dubois added his second of the night in the third period, making it 4-1.
Josh Leivo cut the lead to a pair, but that’s as close as it got, and an empty-netter by Cole Perfetti iced it.
Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele picked up two assists to join some elite company: his 600 points in a Jets uniform is matched only by Dale Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen and Wheeler.
That makes it three straight wins for the Jets, six in their last seven games and a 9-3 mark in their last 12.
Against this division rival, they have a field day: that’s five straight wins against St. Louis, seven in the last eight.
They rarely get the Blues in this town, as they’ve won 11 of their last 13 here.
Up 1-0 through 20 minutes, the Jets turned things their way with back-to-back goals in the second.
Connor’s marker was set up by Mikey Eyssimont, whose nifty chip sent Connor in alone on Thomas Greiss.
The 36-year-old journeyman goaltender didn’t stand a chance against the quick hands of Winnipeg’s sniper, Connor notching his 11th of the season.
That set the Blues on their heels.
They took a penalty on the next shift, and while Greiss stopped Connor on a power-play one-timer, he couldn’t get in position to handle a Wheeler rebound chance seconds later, making it 3-zip, Jets.
The goal, Wheeler’s eighth, continued a torrid pace for Winnipeg’s power play, with at least one goal in six straight games.
The Jets have scored eight times in their last 20 chances with an opponent in the sin bin.
Things aren’t so rosy on the other side: at one points Blues fans were booing a power play that was being blanked for a second straight game.
Down 3-0 with time winding down in the second, the Blues found some life.
Vladimir Tarasenko shook off Logan Stanley’s 6-foot-7, 228-pound frame to set up an unchecked Robert Thomas just 1:24 before the break, but the Blues never could get to within one.
The Jets hopped a plane to Chicago after the game for a Friday nighter against the last-place Blackhawks.
The shadow of Tyler Pitlick couldn’t stop Scheifele from setting up the game’s first goal.
The Jets’ centre ducked Pitlick’s hit behind the St. Louis goal line, and despite being followed by his would-be checker for the rest of the shift, Scheifele managed to set up Dubois just outside the crease.
Dubois’s backhand wasn’t strong enough to overpower a moth, but Greiss was scrambling to get across the crease to defend Scheifele, leaving him in no position to stop anything.
It was Dubois’ 12th goal of the season and his seventh straight game with a point.
The only goal of the first period, it came with 4:19 left.
And while the Jets may have given up more than they got in the way of chances, Hellebuyck had been strong, the shots 10 apiece.
Hellebuyck wasn’t the only one making big saves early, though, as Greiss stymied Jansen Harkins from the slot, twice.
Winnipeg did suffer one first-period blow when third-line forward Saku Maenalanen left with what looked like a bad shoulder injury.
Hit into the boards by the Blues defenceman Niko Mikkola, Maenalanen left the ice and went straight to the medical room, his left arm limp.
The Jets ruled out his return soon after.
Defenceman Dylan Samberg was a late scratch for Winnipeg, Stanley making his return after a cracked ankle bone sidelined him the last six weeks.
pfriesen@postmedia.com
Twitter: @friesensunmedia
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