Faksa scores late in second period to restore Blues' two-goal lead over Jets
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Radek Faksa scored late in the second period to extend the St. Louis Blues’ lead over the Winnipeg Jets to 3-1 after after 40 minutes of play in Game 7 on Sunday.
Faksa took a pass from Nathan Walker, before firing the puck past Connor Hellebuyck’s glove for his team’s third goal of the game with under a minute to go in the frame.
Cole Perfetti scored on the power play for the Jets at the 11:41 mark of the second period, redirecting a hard pass from Kyle Connor up and over the shoulder of Blues’ netminder Jordan Binnington for his second goal of the series. Neal Pionk recorded a secondary assist on the play.
Oskar Sundqvist took a two-minute minor for misconduct to give the Jets their power play, with Perfetti scoring just seven seconds later.
In the first period, Jordan Kyrou opened the scoring just 1:10 into the contest, with assists going to Colton Parayko and Pavel Buchnevich on the play.
Mathieu Joseph doubled St. Louis’ lead with a valiant solo effort, picking up the puck off of a neutral zone turnover and beating Jets’ goalie Connor Hellebuyck shortside for a 2-0 lead.
Hellebuyck has made 13 saves on 16 shots, while Binnington has stopped 13 of 14 shots through two periods.
Jets’ defenceman Josh Morrissey has yet to return to the contest after taking a hard hit from Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist five minutes into the first period.
Morrissey took another shift, laying a hit on Joseph that appeared to aggravate the apparent injury just moments before he scored St. Louis’ second goal of the game.
Following the goal, Morrissey headed back down to the locker room and has still not returned as of the end of the second period.
The winner of Game 7 will advance to the second round to face the Dallas Stars, who were victorious in their own win-or-go-home game against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.