With a chance to take a stranglehold on the series, the Winnipeg Jets came out flat in Game 3 and never recovered. The St. Louis Blues, playing as a desperate group, ran the Jets out of the building in a 7-2 rout.
The Jets lost Game 3 in the first period
The main takeaway from this game was Winnipeg’s poor start. Within three minutes and 11 seconds, Pavel Buchnevich had scored twice to help his team go up 2-0, and the shots on goal were 7-0 for the Blues.
Things went from bad to worse in the first, as Cam Fowler skated past the Jets’ defence core and made it 3-0.
“We lost the game in the first,” Scott Arniel said to reporters in St. Louis. “They scored two goals in the first three minutes, got on our heels, crowd got behind them.”
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
“We were terrible in the first period. Game was over in the first.”
The Jets never recovered, as they trailed by three through the first period, being heavily out-shot and out-hit by the Blues.
The second period was scoreless, and while the Jets made it 3-1 early in the third period, their hope for a comeback was short-lived.
Connor Hellebuyck’s misplay was the dagger
Jaret Anderson-Dolan made a fantastic play to David Gustafsson for a fourth-line goal, getting Winnipeg on the board.
Then just minutes later, Connor Hellebuyck misplayed a puck behind Winnipeg’s net and Buchnevich netted his third goal of the night.
That goal was the dagger.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
Hellebuyck has improved at playing the puck over the past couple of seasons, but in a big moment in the third period of a playoff game, this mistake simply burned the Jets.
The Jets went on to lose 7-2, but any momentum that was being generated was zapped after this 4-1 goal.
Dylan DeMelo was ruled out prior to puck drop
Another obstacle the Jets had to overcome in this game was when Dylan DeMelo was ruled out prior to puck drop, due to Illness, that Scott Arniel said they found out about at around 4:00.
DeMelo’s steady presence on the blueline, and penalty-killing abilities were dearly missed for Winnipeg, as they struggled to shut plays down and move the puck up the ice against St. Louis’ forecheck.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
With DeMelo out, Neal Pionk slid up to the top pairing alongside Josh Morrissey, Luke Schenn was with Dylan Samberg, and Colin Miller drew into the lineup with Logan Stanley.
Up next
The Jets will look to bounce back from this loss on Sunday at 12:00 PM CT, in Game 4. Stay tuned to Illegalcurve.com for the latest news coming out of the Jets practices leading up to Game 4, and tune into the post-game show after the final buzzer on Sunday.
