WINNIPEG, MB — Ryan O’Reilly was the only scorer in the shootout and the St. Louis Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Blues head coach Craig Berube praised goalie Jordan Binnington, who made 39 saves.
“He came up big for us. He won us a game tonight,” Berube said.
Eight skaters took shots in the contest, with O’Reilly beating Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck.
Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and assist, and Jordan Kyrou also scored for St. Louis.
Kyle Connor netted his team-leading ninth goal, and defenseman Neal Pionk scored for Winnipeg.
Buchnevich set up Kyrou’s game-tying goal at 11:54 of the third period, sending the puck to the front of the net for Kyrou, who beat Hellebuyck.
St. Louis had possession for most of overtime, outshooting Winnipeg 10-1. Brandon Saad hit the post.
“There was a couple times where he was on his stomach or he was on his back and he just flung his arm up there, got a stick on it or something,” Kyrou said of Binnington’s performance. “He made unbelievable saves, and same thing in the shootout, (he) stopped all four of them.”
Hellebuyck made 31 saves for the Jets after missing the team’s past three games. The first absence was for his son’s birth, the next two because he was sick with a non-COVID illness.
“It felt good,” Hellebuyck said. “That’s kind of what I was expecting. A few mistakes on my end tonight.
“I feel I’ve gotten certain details into my game and certain bad habits out of my game and tonight I might have crept a few of those back in. That’s just a matter of getting my mind into game speed.”
Winnipeg was playing its fourth game of a season-long seven-game homestand.
Both teams had a power play in the fast-paced first period, but only the Blues capitalized. Buchnevich scored his third of the season with a shot that went through Hellebuyck’s legs at 18:09.
The Blues had the second-best power play in the NHL heading into the game at 30.8%, while Winnipeg was fourth (28.1%).
Winnipeg outshot St. Louis 17-5 in the second period.
Pionk did a spin move inside the blue line and fired a shot that may have hit a player and beat a screened Binnington at 10:56.
“That’s something he works on, being dynamic at the blue line,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said of Pionk. “I thought our (defense) corps was very dynamic back there tonight.”
Shots on goal were 23-13 in favor of Winnipeg after the second period.
Connor fired a sharp-angled, high shot past Binnington at 6:22 of the third to give the Jets a 2-1 lead. Jets captain Blake Wheeler assisted on the goal, giving him 700 points with the franchise. He has 810 points in his 14-year career.
