The Winnipeg Jets have set a new franchise record with their 53rd victory of the season.
Monday night was the definition of a heavyweight tilt from downtown Winnipeg.
The game featured the Jets - the NHL's No. 1 placed team - as well as the St. Louis Blues - the that has played the very best over the past stretch of hockey.
The Blues entered the game winners of 12-straight and having earned 19 wins in their last 23 games, while Winnipeg sat first league-wide with 108 points in 77 games played.
Those gathered at Canada Life Centre did not go home disappointed, as the two clubs put together a memorable performance, with the Jets walking away the winner, by way of a 3-1 final.
No, Winnipeg did not have Nikolaj Ehlers, Gabe Vilardi, Neal Pionk or Rasmus Kupari at its disposal due to injuries, but the team managed just fine.
Morgan Barron, Alex Iafallo and Adam Lowry each scored, as the Jets gained critical ground in an exceptionally tight race for first place.
“Yeah, I think that’s how we want to play," Barron said post-game. "That’s a really good team in transition. We kind of knew that when we’re at the top of our game, we’re able to stymy that the best we could. Our D just gapped up really nicely and our forwards tracked back really well.”
Winnipeg heavily outplayed the Blues in the opening frame, controlling the majority of the play for the first 20 minutes. Shot attempts were 31-8 for the Jets by the first intermission.
But despite all the offensive zone work, the Jets could not manage to beat Winnipegger Joel Hofer between the pipes.
Barron broke the scoreless draw just 2:34 into the second period, as he picked up a Josh Morrissey offering before taking the puck hard to the net, beating Hofer on a heavy net drive.
But just five minutes later, it was Pavel Buchnevich who responded for the visitors off a Robert Thomas setup from the goal line.
Neither team managed to score on their second period power play, with Winnipeg taking over the shot lead at 16-11 through 40 minutes of play.
After killing off an early third period penalty, the Jets struck first in the final stanza. It was Iafallo who jammed home a Kyle Connor rebound seven minutes into the period, finishing off a strong offensive zone shift from the new-look first line.
Playing in place of his former Los Angeles Kings teammate Vilardi, Iafallo found his 14th of the season, which ended up serving as the eventual winner.
The Blues called a timeout and pulled Hofer for the extra attacker with two minutes to play. Mason Appleton came within half an inch of sealing the deal, but he hit the post on the empty net, allowing the Blues another chance on the six-on-five advantage with 26 seconds left to play.
It didn't matter, as Lowry made up for Appleton's earlier error, ending the Blues' 12-game winning streak on an empty netter of his own with 8.5 seconds to play.
Hellebuyck finished the night with 14 stops on the 15 shots he faced, while Hofer turned aside 23 of the 25 pucks sent his way by Winnipeg.
“He always jokes about timely saves," Barron said of his goaltender. "That’s what he always says in the video when there’s a big save he makes. I think that’s what he did tonight. As much as I think we did defend well, he made some huge saves at big times. That one on Buchnevich I think it was at the end of the game. Those were huge for us; he’s been great all year. We want to defend the best we can in front of him and just let him make the saves he needs to make.”
Next up for Winnipeg is a two-game road trip through Dallas and Chicago - featuring quite arguably the most important test of the year against the Stars. That game will be aired live on TSN at 7:00 PM central on Thursday. Saturday's game against Chicago will be on Sportsnet at 6:00 PM.