Jets score late winner to down Blues in Game 1: Takeaways
The Presidents' Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets made it clear this week that they are judging their season by the quality of their playoffs. Their 5-3 win on home ice in Game 1 showed that they are more resilient than ever.
The way the Jets kept pushing in the third period, with Alex Iafallo tying the game on a rebound and Kyle Connor scoring the game winning goal with 1:36 left in the game, an early review of Winnipeg's playoffs shows that they're resilient when it counts.
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Winnipeg took a game that was slipping away – and often controlled by Blues' stars Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou – and turned it into a 1-0 series lead. Iafallo's goal tied Game 1 with 10:42 left in the third period and Winnipeg's top line – with Iafallo in place of injured Gabriel Vilardi – kept pushing until Connor delivered the late game-winning goal.
Connor's goal brought a raucous home crowd to its feet, where it remained as Adam Lowry scored the empty net goal that sealed the 5-3 win.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 14-of-17 shots in the win.
The Jets controlled the flow of play for large portions of the game but were burned early when Thomas and Kyrou each scored with the man advantage and Oskar Sundqvist took advantage of a failed Morgan Barron clear and a puck that bounced awkwardly off of Luke Schenn.
The Jets have preached the benefits of 'scar tissue' from last year's playoffs and are meant to be a more resilient group this year. They've shown that to take a 1-0 lead against a hard-working, hard-checking Blues team in Game 1.
Iafallo is one of Winnipeg's best forecheckers, hardest backcheckers, and most tenacious forwards. Coach Scott Arniel likes to refer to him as a Swiss Army knife for his ability to play any role that the coaches ask of him.
He was also a fourth-line player for most of the season.
Iafallo scored four goals and three assists in 11 games upon his sudden promotion when Gabriel Vilardi got hurt, but no play he made was as big as the goal he scored against St. Louis in Game 1.
With Mark Scheifele and Connor cycling on the outside, trying desperately to find a chance in the middle, Iafallo drove to the net and jumped on a Scheifele rebound, scoring the game-tying goal while off balance in the slot.
Hellebuyck is facing down playoff demons this year after giving up 24 goals in five games to Colorado last year. The Jets' two-time Vezina Trophy winner, who has been the best goaltender in the world again this season, gave up three goals on St. Louis' first three quality chances of the game. Winnipeg needs to do much more to help him out, but Hellebuyck rose to the occasion all the same.
Connor Hellebuyck made this breakaway save on Jordan Kyrou look easy.
Huge save considering the score and situation. pic.twitter.com/oj1LbWatpn
— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) April 19, 2025
Game 1 could have gone differently. St. Louis' first goal came as the Jets' PK chased transition offence, failing to get the puck out, and leaving Robert Thomas all alone in the circle. The chaotic bounce off of Luke Schenn that helped Oskar Sundqvist score the Blues' second goal came after a failed Barron clear, while Kyrou's power play goal took advantage of a Sundqvist screen. Hellebuyck did his part to keep the Jets in the game, stopping Kyrou's breakaway fivehole attempt after Dylan Samberg misplayed a puck in the neutral zone, and stopped everything he faced in the third.
This could be the first step in Hellebuyck erasing demons from playoffs past.
Scheifele got the Jets' first goal on the power play, thanks to a fortunate bounce off of Ryan Suter. There were parts of the second period when Scheifele and Connor ran their two-man offensive game, relying on cutbacks, quick turns, and perimeter play to open up seams – and it almost paid off, with Binnington going post-to-post to make two tough saves off of Connor.
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Connor was stopped on two cross-seam passes – one from Scheifele, one on the power play from Cole Perfetti – before breaking through with the game-winning goal in the third. He was dancing all night, although some of his cutbacks kept him to the outside.
But there is a realistic, believable world in which Connor and Scheifele take over parts of the series the way they did in Game 1. They're going to need to get to inside ice and execute when they get there – and it took until the third period for them to break through.
Iafallo was the energizer on that line all night, knocking down pucks that helped Winnipeg's stars go to work.
One of the big storylines in the series is the fact that brothers Luke and Brayden Schenn are going up against each other. In the days leading up to Game 1, Luke told reporters that younger brother Brayden, captain of the Blues, was instrumental in re-establishing the culture in St. Louis, which helped them get back into the playoff picture.
'I agree with Luke,' Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. 'I don't think we're in this situation if it's not for Brayden Schenn. There were really trying times during the regular season for our group and he was the glue that kept us together.'
But if you don't need to wonder which Schenn fans at Canada Life Centre were supporting Saturday. After Brayden laid a hit on Jets' captain Adam Lowry, the crowd began chanting: 'Luke is better! Luke is better!'
Blues center Robert Thomas ended the regular season on a 12-game point-streak, in which he had 25 points (4 goals, 21 assists). He picked up where he left off in Game 1 against the Jets Saturday, scoring the first goal of the NHL playoffs, a power-play goal for a 1-0 lead.
'Dominance,' Blues forward Jake Neighbours said. 'I think everybody's seen that he's taken it to a different level. He's been putting his name in the conversation of superstar status in this league. Personally, I feel like he's been in that conversation for three years now, but this year the production is up a little bit since the 4 Nations (Face-Off).
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'But I think the No. 1 thing is his defensive game. You've got to worry about him putting up three or four points on you every night, but at the same time you're not going to get a lot of looks with him on the ice. Just the way he's able to control the game from both ends of the ice, almost at ease, is pretty impressive.'
Thomas has feasted on the Jets this season. In four regular-season games, he had three goals and five assists. So with the power-play goal Saturday, he has four goals and nine points in five games against them. At the time of his goal in Game 1, he had four goals on just 10 shots.
(Top photo of Mark Scheifele's Game 1 goal: Terrence Lee / Imagn Images)
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