In Winnipeg, the Jets were bested by the notter team in Game 1 of their opening round series with the St Louis Blues, on Wednesday night.
In a tight match, the Jets took a 1-0 lead on a goal from Patrik Laine at 13:28 of the first period.
“We had a pretty solid game,” Laine said. “We lost their guys in the third a couple of times and they got some good chances. They were able to score two, but overall, for two periods, we played some good hockey. It’s a frustrating loss, but we’ve got to focus on Game 2.”
The Blues did not get on the board until early in the third period when David Perron tied it up at 1-1.
“We just kept climbing, climbing, grinding,” Perron said. “Our second intermission, I thought we were calm and composed in here. It was good to see. Obviously, a lot of nerves to start the game. We put pucks deep, didn’t make too many plays early on, but that’s something we have to adjust and be confident to make those plays to allow us to have chances and score goals.”
Jordan Binnington made 24 saves and held off the Jets until St Louis got their offense in gear.
“That buzzer couldn’t have come sooner,” Binnington said. “We were just battling throughout in our D-zone. It was a grind right until the end, so it was a good win.”
Binnington needed to make a late save to preserve the margin of victory.
Tyler Bozak struck for the winner with just over two minutes left in regulation.
“Just try and find the soft areas on the ice,” Bozak said. “I had a lot of chances tonight so I knew the puck was kind of following me around a bit. It’s always fun when that happens, so after the few I missed it was definitely nice to get one in there.”
Game 2 in the series is on Friday in Winnipeg.
“It was good playoff hockey. It wasn’t an open game, and none of them are going to be. It’s not breaking loose in this series,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s going to look almost like that right through. Just take one or two of their chances away from them a night, the ones you think you can clean up, and then make good on yours.”
[WATCH: Blues vs. Jets Game 1 highlights | Complete series coverage]
Connor Hellebuyck made 24 saves in the loss.
“They’re obviously a good team and you don’t want to give them too much time and space. We worked really hard today, we played good, so we need to show who we are and bounce back next game,” Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers said after the game.
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