Jets Down Blues, Avalanche Beats Blackhawks

By ESPN

Patrik Laine has felt good about his game of late, even though he hasn't been getting a lot of goals. His reward finally came on Tuesday night.

The 18-year-old rookie scored twice and Mark Scheifele had a goal and an assist as the Winnipeg Jets beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 for their season-high fifth straight victory.

Laine hadn't scored since missing a game on March 26 with the flu. He finally feels all the way back.

"Now I saw that I can still score, and the skills, they are there, but hopefully I can just produce some good things on the ice the last couple of games and score a couple of goals," Laine said.

Mark Stuart and Nikolaj Ehlers also had a goal and an assist apiece for the Jets, who swept the five-game season series against the Blues for the first time in franchise history. Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little and Mathieu Perreault each had two assists, and Michael Hutchinson made 24 saves for Winnipeg.

"I think they bring out the best in us," Wheeler said. "Our preparation coming into a game against St. Louis, we know what kind of game it's going to be. It's going to be a tough matchup."

Alex Pietrangelo and Jori Lehtera scored for the Blues, who had their season-best point streak snapped at nine games. Jake Allen made 20 saves before being pulled for Carter Hutton in the third period.

The Jets scored three times in 62-second span early in the second.

"We poured it on right there at the start of the second," Wheeler said. "We were able to turn the tide of the game right there."

Laine tied the score on a rebound at 1:47, and Ehlers gave the Jets the lead on a wraparound at 2:01. Stuart made it 3-1 when his slap shot bounced off a pair of Blues players and deflected over Allen into the net at 2:49.

"I don't even really know how it went in," Stuart said. "I have to see the replay. It took a few bounces, I know that."

Lehtera got the Blues back into it at 4:38 of the second, cutting Winnipeg's lead to 3-2. Lehtera, who hadn't scored since Feb. 16, missed the previous 12 games with a concussion.

Scheifele gave the Jets an insurance goal at 4:48 of the third. Allen initially appeared to make a dazzling glove save on Scheifele's shot, but Winnipeg challenged and the replay showed the momentum of the shot carried Allen's glove across the goal line.

Allen wasn't exactly convinced.

"Apparently, we've got satellites in Mars that can see that, or it could have been a different game," Allen said. "It was a tough angle to get to, but the league did their thing. I have no control on the review. You don't really hope for nothing unless you are sure it was not in the net. It was right there, but how they could actually see the puck ... I never saw a replay."

Laine's second goal of the game chased Allen at 9:02 of the third.

"I didn't think we made things difficult on them at all with how we defended, how we attacked," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "We were too easy to defend tonight."

Pietrangelo gave the Blues a 1-0 lead just 35 seconds into the game. Pietrangelo stopped a clearing attempt and followed his initial backhand shot with a rebound for his career-high 13th goal.

The last time the Blues gave up five goals was Jan. 31 against the Jets.

"You still live your losses at this time of year and you don't get to enjoy your wins, but we had a focusing job to do today and we got it done

Avalanche 4, Blackhawks 3

The good news: The Chicago Blackhawks can afford a collapse like this. No harm done.

Still, with the playoffs around the corner, the best team in the West wants to be clicking on all cylinders. This wasn't exactly what they had in mind.

Defenseman Erik Johnson went coast-to-coast to score at 1:57 of overtime and the Colorado Avalanche rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat the Blackhawks 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Johnson grabbed the puck near his goal, took advantage of a line change by the Blackhawks to cruise up the ice and beat goaltender Scott Darling with a nifty shot. It was Johnson's second goal of the season after missing a chunk of the season with the broken leg he suffered on Dec. 3.

"We didn't play the way we'd like to," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "We'll move forward."

The Blackhawks are tuning up for the postseason with nothing left to play for in the regular season.

They've already captured the Central Division and locked up the top seed in the Western Conference. The real goal is to get some key players rest. Defenseman Duncan Keith got the night off Tuesday.

Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog had short-handed goals for the last-place Avalanche, who won for just the second time in 10 games. Mikhail Grigorenko tied it up early in the third period off a pass from Duchene.

"They're the best team in the West, a great team, and it's fun to get a win," Johnson said.

Artemi Panarin, Ryan Hartman and Marcus Kruger scored in the second period for the Blackhawks to stake them to a 3-0 lead. It wouldn't last as they remain stuck on a franchise record-tying 24 road wins.

Darling was at his best with his team a man down late in the third, stopping one point-blank shot after another. He couldn't come up with the save on the OT shot by Johnson, who skated by Marian Hossa near the Avalanche goal, saw open ice and was off to the races.

"I was able to pick it up. There's so much room in 3-on-3," Johnson said. "I tried to make a move to the net and luckily it went in."

Hartman scored his 19th goal of the season, one away from becoming the seventh Chicago player to reach 20. That sort of scoring balance could come in handy.

"We can have guys up and down the lineup scoring goals," he said. "Close games it can really help and it can put you far into the playoffs."

Patrick Kane had an assist for his 88th point of the season as he tries to keep pace with Connor McDavid of Edmonton in the scoring race. Kane was playing with a fat lip that required three stitches inside his mouth and seven on the outside, courtesy of being hit by an errant puck during pregame warmups in their previous game.

The Avalanche finished with a season-high 51 shots, but couldn't seem to get anything past Darling -- except when the Blackhawks were on the power play.

Duchene scored off a pass from Matt Nieto for a short-handed goal. Landeskog followed 4:15 later with another. They entered the game with three short-handed goals all season and none at home.

"It's just when the puck decides to go in, it goes in," Duchene said. "When it doesn't, it doesn't."

Colorado recently called up center Rocco Grimaldi and defenseman Duncan Siemens from San Antonio of the American Hockey League. Siemens was the 11th overall pick in 2011 and played in his second career game -- both against the Blackhawks. He also saw action in the season finale on April 11, 2015.

Tuesday, April 4 Scoreboard

Boston 4, Tampa Bay 0

New Jersey 1, Philadelphia 0 (OT)

Pittsburgh 4, Columbus 1

Washington 4, Toronto 1

Ottawa 2, Detroit 0

Winnipeg 5, St. Louis 2

New York Islanders 2, Nashville 1 (OT)

Minnesota 5, Carolina 3

Dallas 3, Arizona 2 (OT)

Colorado 4, Chicago 3 (OT)

Anaheim 3, Calgary 1

Los  Angeles 6, Edmonton 4

San Jose 3, Vancouver 1

Wednesday, April 5 Schedule (All Times Central)

Montreal at Buffalo, 6:30 p.m.

New York Rangers at Washignton, 7 p.m.