The Winnipeg Jets were coming off a loss to the Utah Hockey Club, but the franchise has had a good habit of bouncing back from losses this season. Only on five occasions have the True Northers lost more than one game in a row this season, showing an admirable ability to rebound. And that could come in handy on Monday night when the St. Louis Blues, winners of 12 straight, roll into Manitoba for a battle at the Canada Life Centre. With the Central Division title still up for grabs, here is how the Jets played last night…
GAME RECAP
Winnipeg received some bad news pre-game, as injured Nikolaj Ehlers and sick Colin Miller were not able to go, yet that didn’t stop them from starting the contest off well. Right from the puck drop, the Jets appeared to be running on a better octane of fuel, because the hometown skaters were flying around the rink. Brandon Tanev was one of the more noticeable Jets early on, forechecking well and laying down a big bodycheck as the ice was very much tilted in his squad’s favour. Chances were limited both ways, but St. Louis really struggled to break through Winnipeg’s defense (0.07 xG’s in 1st) as they were limited to just 3 shots on Connor Hellebuyck. The Jets did have a few plays that brought the fans to their feet, such as Cole Perfetti getting robbed on a rebound opportunity and Logan Stanley throwing a huge hit. The True Northers seriously controlled the puck in the opening frame, but none of their 8 shots could get by the Blues’ Joel Hofer.
The 2nd period was a lot evener and St. Louis showed signs of waking up right off the bat when a failed Winnipeg zone exit gave Radek Faksa a one-on-one look with Hellebuyck, only for the tender to stretch out a pad to deny the opportunity. Fortunately the Jets rebounded quickly when Morgan Barron won a race for a loose puck in the Blues’ zone. With the defenseman draped all over him, Bear cut to the net before sniping a shot to the low far-side to give his club the lead. WPG 1-0. St. Louis had a serious pushback, with multiple shifts of offensive zone pressure and that eventually paid off for them. Bucky made some big saves to give us hope the Jets would withstand the push, but lost defensive coverage left Pavel Buchnevich all alone out front for the tying goal. TIE 1-1. With half the game remaining to determine a winner, the officials got involved by giving the teams a powerplay each, though neither man-advantage unit could get much going. The middle frame concluded with some more good saves by Winnipeg’s & St. Louis’ goalies, so the teams would head into the intermission deadlocked.
The Blues got another powerplay early on, but blocks by Tanev & Dylan Samberg helped the Jets give up no shots on net while short-handed. St. Louis did get a quality look right after the PP, when they split Winnipeg’s defenders for a shot from the low slot. After that, the hometown club took control back and started to string together a bunch of cycle shifts. The Jets’ top line had a long one of those and with the Blues’ defenders tiring, Kyle Connor let a slot shot go and it created a juicy rebound for Alex Iafallo to give the True Northers the lead. WPG 2-1. Another pushback by St. Louis saw Tanev block not one, but two quality scoring attempts but eventually Winnipeg was able to clog up the neutral zone to frustrate any attempt at creating more offense. Only when the time on the clock was dwindling and the Blues pulled their goalie did they spend any length of time in the Jets’ end. But even then, Winnipeg did well to keep them to the perimeter and yet another shot block led to an empty net goal by Adam Lowry (really Mason Appleton should have gotten it, but he ended up hitting the post with a wide open net).
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FINAL SCORE: WINNIPEG JETS 3 ST. LOUIS BLUES 1
FINAL STATS
Shots: 26-15 WPG / Hits: 31-26 STL / Face-Offs: 52.0% STL / x Goals: 4.39 WPG – 1.27 STL /
MoneyPuck’s Deserve to Win: 89.8% WPG / High-Medium Danger Scoring Chances: 14 to 5 WPG
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SCORING SUMMARY from ESPN
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SHOT CHART from MoneyPuck
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ADVANCED SKATER STATS from MoneyPuck
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GOALIE STATS from ESPN & MoneyPuck
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If you would like to dive deeper into the game’s stats, follow the links below to the game pages:
MoneyPuck: St. Louis Blues vs. Winnipeg Jets – Monday April 7 2025 – MoneyPuck.com
NaturalStatTrick: St Louis Blues @ Winnipeg Jets, 2025-04-07
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Running out of time once again….so the observations will be brief today…
BOJA’s Observations:
- The Winnipeg Jets get franchise record 53rd win of the season. Adam Lowry set a new career-high in goals in a season (16). Mark Scheifele tied his career-high in points in a regular season (84).
- Magic number is 3 for the True Northers to lock up the Central over the Dallas Stars…4 to end up as the Presidents over the Washington Capitals.
- The 3rd line of Adam Lowry, Brandon Tanev, & Mason Appleton looked really good. 90.4% of the expected goals.
- What a first period by Winnipeg!! Great way to start off the game by winning the shot attempt battle 31 to 8, while outshooting the Blues 8 to 3. Also impressed by their ability to spend a lot of time in the offensive zone after taking the 2-1 lead…no sitting back to defend last night.
- A defensive gem by the Jets…allowing only 1.27 xG from the red-hot St. Louis Blues. In particular, Winnipeg completely shutdown the opposition in the 1st & 3rd periods (shots 18-7 for WPG).
- While the PP continues to struggle without Gabriel Vilardi, the PK was 2 for 2 without allowing a shot on net. Very impressive work.
Alright….we will become Vancouver Canucks’ fans for one night as they take on the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. Go Nucks!!
UP NEXT: Winnipeg Jets @ Dallas Stars – Thursday, April 10th @ 7:00 pm CST
