The St. Louis Blues scored three goals in the first period and never looked back as they won 7-2, and cut the Winnipeg Jets‘ series lead to 2-1.
Pavel Buchnevich led the way offensively with a hat trick. Cam Fowler, Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko, and Colton Parayko also scored for the Blues. Jordan Binnington made 16 saves.
Related: 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 Hub
David Gustafsson and Neal Pionk scored for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck made 19 saves, and Eric Comrie made two saves in relief.
Game Recap
Buchnevich got the scoring party going early, 48 seconds into the contest, when a Jimmy Snuggerud shot created a rebound that landed in front of Buchnevich, who pounced on the loose puck and beat Hellebuyck on the right side.
The 30-year-old winger scored his second of the night less than three minutes later on the power play on a tip-in play off a Robert Thomas shot from above the left circle.
Fowler capped off the three-goal period with a breakaway goal at 15:51. With Thomas breaking the Jets’ blue line along the left boards, Fowler snuck behind the defensemen and beat Hellebuyck from the mid-slot.
The scoring died down until the Jets got on the board at 4:32 of the final period with a David Gustafsson wrist shot from the low slot.
Less than a minute later, Buchnevich completed the hat trick. Thomas completed the assists version of the hat trick after stealing the puck from Hellebuyck and leaving it for Buchnevich who had a wrap-around into an empty net.
Kyrou joined the onslaught at 7:56 on a wrist shot from the middle of the right circle. At 10:32, Toropchenko tipped in a Jake Neighbours slap-pass to give the Blues a 6-2 lead. Pionk would cut the deficit to 6-2 on the power play at 12:50 with a slap shot from the point. The Blues would score a power-play goal of their own 27 seconds later, off a Parayko slap shot from the left circle.
The Blues outshot the Jets 28-18 and went 3-for-8 on the power play, while the Jets went 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
Physicality has been the theme for this series, and the Jets led the way on Thursday, outhitting the Blues 68-63 in registered hits.
Up Next
Game 4 is back in St. Louis on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm EST.
