Brayden Schenn, Tyler Tucker and Justin Faulk each scored second period goals to help the St. Louis Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-1 on Sunday to tie their playoff series at 2-all after dropping the first two games in Winnipeg.
Robert Thomas and Jake Neighbours also scored, and Jordan Binnington made 30 saves for St. Louis, which has won 14 straight regular season and playoff games at home dating back to Feb. 23.
“We knew where we were,” Faulk said. “We had a job to do when we came back. Start with the first one, come in and try and play well, get to our game. Obviously, the first one went pretty well and went our way. We knew we had to try and recreate that again today.”
Kyle Connor scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 13 saves for Winnipeg before being pulled after Thomas scored his second goal of the playoffs 2:01 into the third period.
Eric Comrie made five saves in relief of Hellebuyck, who has allowed at least four goals in 10 of his last 13 playoff appearances and has been pulled in consecutive games for just the second time in his career counting the regular season.
“I can look at all the goals,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “Those are coverage goals. Those are things that we usually handle pretty well. We didn’t tonight.”
Schenn gave the Blues a 3-1 lead with 2:37 remaining in the second period when he wristed a puck in the crease over Hellebuyck for his first goal of the playoffs just five seconds after Jets captain Adam Lowry returned from serving a roughing penalty.
“The benefit of having guys like [Jordan] Kyrou, Schenn and Neighbours on your second line is you get favourable matchups at home,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said.
“Give credit to them for taking advantage of it, scoring at the end of the power play and getting that other big goal 5-on-5. When you see a skilled player like Jordan Kyrou being at the net front helping create screens, you know your team’s really invested.”
Tucker scored his first career playoff goal on a slap shot from the point to give the Blues a 2-1 lead with 9:04 left in the second period. Tucker needed help leaving the ice with 4:17 remaining in the game after his legs slammed into the boards awkwardly as Oskar Sundqvist delivered a hit on Brandon Tanev next to him.
“I don’t have an update,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said about Tucker. “His goal was huge for us getting a lead and being able to play with the lead. I thought he was really aggressive. I thought that was his best game of the three games.”
Neighbours used the blade of his stick to deflect a shot from Colton Parayko past Hellebuyck for his first career playoff goal with 23 seconds remaining in the first period.
“It felt really good because I felt I had multiple instances where I could have made a difference on their first goal,” Neighbours said.
“It was nice to get one back for the team. The emotion of it, it’s just exciting. It’s the playoffs, you want to compete for your team and help out any way you can. It was a good feeling.”
Connor scored his third goal of the postseason with 6:02 left in the first period to give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead.
“You’ve got to reset,” Jets defenseman Luke Schenn said.
“I don’t think anyone expected this to be an easy series, at least, personally, I didn’t. I watched the Blues’ last two months of the season — they’re the hottest team in the NHL for a reason, and have the best home record and didn’t lose at home down the stretch.”
The Jets and Blues return to Winnipeg for Game 5 Wednesday night.
