Vilardi scores twice, Jets edge Blues in shootout for 9th straight win

ST. LOUIS -- Gabriel Vilardi scored twice for the Winnipeg Jets, who extended their winning streak to a season-high nine games with a 4-3 shootout win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Jets (40-14-3), who are the first team in the NHL this season to reach 40 wins. Eric Comrie made 21 saves with Connor Hellebuyck not on the trip after playing for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey also missed the game with an illness after playing for Canada at the 4 Nations.

“I really liked our effort,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “We knew St. Louis, they’re in a hunt themselves. I liked the way we came out. It was a great first period and did a lot of the right things. Even the start of the second.

“I just mentioned to the team that was a game where a lot of different things went on and it’s those games late in the year that you need to get the two points, find a way to win. It might be a playoff game, same type of thing. We were down and found a way to come back. We were up at times. That had a lot to it in that game, pretty entertaining. Just happy we came out on the right side of it.”

Kyle Connor scored the lone goal of the shootout in the second round, and Cole Perfetti had two assists.

“I always like to check out how the goalie’s playing it,” Connor said. “Whether he’s back, coming out, taking away the angle. It seemed like [Hofer] was playing a little deep. I just took what was there and saw a spot and just tried to react and took it.”

Robert Thomas scored twice and had an assist to extend his point streak to five games and Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and two assists for the Blues (25-26-6), who are 2-1-2 the past five games. Joel Hofer made 25 saves.

“It was frustrating,” Thomas said. “Going up against one of the best teams in the League and making a statement coming out of the break, we had a chance, multiple chances even in overtime to close it out. Got to look at the positives. We got two great teams tonight and tomorrow night (Colorado Avalanche). We needed to come out with a good start and something to build on tonight.”

Ehlers gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 4:58 of the first period, converting a saucer pass from Perfetti on a 2-on-1 over Hofer’s left shoulder from the bottom of the right circle after a Blues turnover at the offensive zone blue line.

Thomas scored his 100th NHL goal to tie the game 1-1 at 15:34 on a wrist shot from the right circle.

Vilardi restored the Jets lead at 2-1 at 11:01 of the second period when he split two St. Louis defensemen and finished Mark Scheifele’s pass from the slot.

Thomas tied the game again 16 seconds into the third period when he recovered a loose puck and put a backhand wraparound off Comrie and into the net.

Buchnevich gave the Blues a 3-2 lead at 17:10 with a slap shot power-play goal from the slot, but Vilardi tied the game 3-3 at 19:32 with a tip of Connor's shot after the Jets pulled Comrie for an extra skater.

“The game isn’t over until that last buzzer goes,” Arniel said. “We’ve done this before late getting that one to tie it up. It’s all part of the hockey game, it’s all part of the stuff that you prep for. We worked on some 6-on-5 yesterday kind of for this reason, but I didn’t think it was going to have to come in that quick. Great play by the guys to get up ice fast and obviously Gabe getting to the net.”

St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery wanted to see his team close the game out after scoring a big power-play goal.

“You get a big goal on the power-play, you’ve got to close it out,” Montgomery said. “It’s frustrating. We got a point. We were behind going into the third. There’s a lot of positives to build out of this game, so I don’t to dwell on the negative that we didn’t close it out.

“But the breakdown was we didn’t get in the shot lane going out at the point. We’ve got to force that puck to go down to the wall and obviously there was a shot lane and a guy that tipped it. That high tip is going to be available off a low to high if we don’t get in the shot lane.”

NOTES: The Jets have outscored their opponents 39-19 during their winning streak. … Scheifele has 44 points (17 goals, 27 assists) in 43 games against St. Louis. … Connor has 32 points (14 goals, 18 assists) in 26 games against the Blues. … Thomas has eight points (three goals, five assists) during his point streak. … Buchnevich has six points (one goal, five assists) the past five games.