Jets Beat Blues to Even Series on Connor OT Winner

ST. LOUIS — Kyle Connor scored 6:02 into overtime and the Winnipeg Jets beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Tuesday night to tie their best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series at two games apiece.

Mark Scheifele also scored and Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves for the Jets, who arrived in St. Louis down 2-0. It is the only first-round series in which the home team has failed to win a game.

Game 5 is Thursday night back in Winnipeg.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored and Jordan Binnington made 36 saves for the Blues.

Connor ended it when he banged home a feed from Scheifele for his third goal in two games.

Kyle Connor, Jordan Binnington, Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler
Winnipeg Jets left wing Kyle Connor celebrates with Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Tarasenko beat Hellebuyck with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle 35 seconds into the third period to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. The power-play goal, Tarasenko’s eighth career in the post-season, moved him into a tie with Brian Sutter and Al MacInnis for fourth in franchise history.

Scheifele tied it at the 7:33 mark, tipping in a feed from Connor. It was Scheifele’s second goal of the series.

After a slow start in Game 3, the Blues came out strong in the first period. They built an 8-0 advantage in shots on goal as it took the Jets almost 11 minutes to test Binnington, who came up with a couple of saves on a Winnipeg power play to keep the game scoreless.

Pat Maroon had a pair of chances to give the Blues the lead in the second period, hitting the post off a pass from Tyler Bozak and getting stopped by Hellebuyck on a partial break.

Binnington came up big on a point-blank chance from Scheifele early in the second, and Brandon Tanev hit the crossbar on a breakaway midway through the period.

Face in the Crowd

Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky took in the game. Gretzky played in 18 regular-season games for the Blues in 1996.

NOTES: Blues LW Robby Fabbri saw his first post-season action on a line with RW Alexander Steen and C Ivan Barbashev. . Jets D Dustin Byfuglien had his eight-game playoff point streak snapped. . Binnington, who got an assist on David Perron’s first-period goal in Game 3, became the sixth Blues goaltender to record an assist in a playoff game and the first since Chris Osgood on April 12, 2004, vs. San Jose. . Jets RW Patrik Laine has scored in seven of nine career games at Enterprise Center.

UP NEXT

The series shifts back to Winnipeg for Game 5 on Thursday night.

___

More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Joe Harris, The Associated Press