Connor scores twice for Jets in win against Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Alex Iafallo combined for 10 points for the Winnipeg Jets in a 5-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

"Tonight, we were having fun out there," Iafallo said of Winnipeg’s top forward line. "I think we just kind of laid it all on the line really and just using each other. ... They're amazing players, and I'm just trying to find the right spots to get them the puck and get the puck as well. It was a fun game tonight with them."

Connor scored twice and had an assist, Scheifele had a goal and two assists and Iafallo had four assists for the Jets (6-4-2), who are 5-1-2 in their past eight games. Connor Hellebuyck made 20 saves.

"We were skating really well, pressuring their [defensemen]," Connor said of his line. "I thought we created a lot of turnovers in their own zone with good sticks. Once we got the puck back, we were just working to get open for each other."

Robert Thomas scored for the fourth straight game, and Jordan Binnington made 32 saves for the Blues (5-5-1).

"The second period, we needed more," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "We needed to come out with a real purpose in the second period and we didn't do that. To me, that's the difference in the game.

"There are opportunities we could have capitalized on, [but] we didn't. But still though, I'm going to go back to the second period, it's not good enough."

Scheifele scored on a power play at 8:44 of the first period on a quick one-timer off a cross-crease pass by Iafallo to give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead.

Neal Pionk's first goal of the season at 16:15, a wrist shot from the right circle, made it 2-0.

Pionk got emotional on the bench after scoring; the defenseman attended the memorial service for Adam Johnson, the Nottingham Panthers forward who died Oct. 28 after what the team called a "freak accident" during an EIHL game when he collided with another player and suffered a cut to the neck from the player's skate. Pionk and Johnson were close friends and roommates at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

“It was big,” Jets associate coach Scott Arniel said. "I know it hit him on the bench there after he did it. I think everybody I know felt it a little bit. It’s been a really tough week-and-a-half, two weeks for him. The thing is, he’s played great hockey for us. It’s probably been a little bit of a release for him to get on the ice and just play and kind of maybe not think about those things."

Thomas responded 40 seconds after Pionk’s goal at 16:55 with a wrist shot from the left circle to cut it to 2-1.

The Blues lamented a number of missed opportunities in the period when Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo blocked a Pavel Buchnevich shot near the goal line, and Buchnevich had a puck roll off his stick on a breakaway near the end of the period.

Buchnevich has one goal in nine games.

"I'm just awful. I'm just awful all season," Buchnevich said. "I don't know what to say. Guys create chances for me, but I can't finish. I don't know. Hopefully one [will] go in. I just have to play better and help the team. Now I don't create anything, doesn't really help the team. Got to find a way."

Connor gave the Jets a 3-1 lead with a power-play goal at 4:34 of the second, a one-timer from the right circle that deflected off St. Louis defenseman Nick Leddy's stick, then the far post and in.

Winnipeg went 2-for-3 with the man-advantage.

"Both units are going," Iafallo said. "It's fun when you play that way, staying connected throughout the whole breakout to face-offs, just simple things like that. Everybody's been chipping in and doing their job."

Connor scored from in tight to make it 4-1 at 1:02 of the third period after Binnington got caught behind the net.

Brayden Schenn cut it to 4-2 at 8:08 with a wrist shot from the left circle, but Cole Perfetti scored into an empty net at 17:32 for the 5-2 final.

NOTES: Scheifele moved past Ilya Kovalchuk into second in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history with his 86th multipoint game. Blake Wheeler leads with 100. … Iafallo tied a franchise record with four assists. … Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness missed his seventh straight game to be with his wife, who had a seizure Oct. 22. … Thomas has five points (four goals, one assist) in a four-game point streak, and nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past eight games. ... Justin Faulk had an assist to give him 400 points in the NHL (124 goals, 276 assists). ... St. Louis defenseman Torey Krug had an assist for his first point of the season in his 11th game, his longest stretch to begin a season before getting a point.