Music: {allcanada} Steen, Elliott help Blues defeat Jets

Thursday, February 26, 2015

{allcanada} Steen, Elliott help Blues defeat Jets

ESPN Fantasy Baseball / Yahoo Fantasy Baseball

WINNIPEG -- The St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets laid the groundwork Thursday for their next three games.

Alexander Steen scored the deciding goal in the shootout to give the Blues a 2-1 win at MTS Centre.

Patrik Berglund's eighth goal with 1:49 remaining in the second period gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead. Mark Scheifele tied it 3:14 into the third period to set up the Jets' NHL-leading 22nd overtime game.

Blues goaltender Brian Elliott made 30 saves. Jets goaltender Michael Hutchinson started for the fifth time in the past six games and made 28 saves.

The win ended a two-game losing streak for the Blues, who completed a 1-3-0 homestand Tuesday; 10 of their next 13 games will be on the road, including at Winnipeg on March 19.

Winnipeg (31-20-12) holds the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Its four-game homestand continues Sunday against the Los Angeles Kings. The Jets visit the Blues on March 10 and April 7.

St. Louis (39-18-4), ranked ninth in the NHL with 2.48 goals allowed per game, had allowed nine in its past two. After switching the forward lines in a 5-2 home loss against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock returned to his tried-and-true combinations.

Left wing Jiri Tlusty made his debut for the Jets, who acquired him from the Carolina Hurricanes in a trade Wednesday. Jets forwards Mathieu Perreault and Blake Wheeler are out of the lineup, each with a lower-body injury.

Berglund and Paul Stastny combined to set up the first goal late in the second period. Stastny split Winnipeg's Chris Thorburn and Dustin Byfuglien with a pass inside the Jets zone that Berglund took to the net and snapped past Hutchinson.

Winnipeg answered when Scheifele one-timed Andrew Ladd's pass from behind the net past Elliott for his 10th goal.

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