Unlike in game one, the Jets offense was clicking especially with the man advantage. Also unlike in game one, Connor Hellebuyck struggled badly and while there were blown defensive assignments in three of the four goals against, it sure felt like a couple of extra make-able stops would have made this a different game.

Instead, the Jets lose a tough 4-3 game and are now down 0-2 in the best of seven series heading to St. Louis.

A tale of two different periods.

The Blues come out pretty strong to start the game and five minutes in they open up scoring as Oskar Sundqvist scored on a two on one that could have been played better by Jacob Trouba and would have been a great opportunity for a big save from Connor Hellebuyck. The Jets then get into penalty trouble and even face a brief two man Blues power play, but the Jets kill it and seemingly gain a bit of momentum from it as they start gathering more scoring chances and tie things up thanks to a nice play created by Mark Scheifele and finished by Blake Wheeler.

The Jets finish the period piling up chances and evening up shots in the period at 8-8 while having a 4-1 edge on measured 5 on 5 scoring chances.

A tale of two different periods.

Winnipeg comes out on fire to start the period and gets the first five shots of the game, they also take a 2-1 lead thanks to a Patrik Laine power play goal. Pressure is continued to be applied over the next four minutes, but a seemingly harmless scoring chance for Pat Maroon and the Blues that squeezes by Hellebuyck to tie the game and it felt like all the air had been sucked out of Bell MTS Place.

The Blues carry the attack from that point on and regain a one goal lead on another broken defensive play and a shot that again was a tough but make-able save for Hellebuyck. It was Oskar Sundqvist’s second of the night and the Jets were completely on their heels.

Winnipeg does get a break with another St. Louis penalty and again the jets take advantage with a Mark Scheifele goal to tie things back up again. Most notably, it’s Dustin Byfuglien’s second power play assist in the period as his move back into the top unit was long overdue and paying off in spades. The Blues have all kinds of scoring chances in the period but in terms of high danger even strength chances it’s even at 5-5.

Disaster strikes a little under four minutes into the period as another yet harmless looking shot from Ryan O’Reilly from distance beats Hellebuyck to give the Blues the lead yet again.

For what it’s worth, the Jets were pretty darn good after giving up that goal and had plenty of chances to even things up. They out-shot the Blues 15-9, even strength scoring chances were 10-1 for the Jets and they had a 4-0 edge in high danger chances. Jordan Binnington was equal parts excellent and fortunate as Winnipeg just couldn’t get the equalizer.