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Three Takeaways From Blues' 5-2 Win Against Jets In Game 6 Of Western Conference First Round

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Nathan Walker (26) scored his third goal in two games to help the St. Louis Blues force a Game 7 against the Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference First Round following a 5-2 win in Game 6 on Friday. (Connor Hamilton-Imagn Images)

ST. LOUIS – Honestly, this is so hard to decipher.

The discrepancy between the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets in this Western Conference First round series is quite home-dominated.

For the sixth straight game in this series, the home team held serve and there will be a Game 7 in this series after the Blues took control of Game 6 on Friday in the second period when they scored four times in a 5-2 win before another boisterous crowd at Enterprise Center.

Philip Broberg and Alexey Toropchenko each had a goal and an assist, Brayden Schenn, Cam Fowler and Nathan Walker each scored and Jordan Binnington once again bested Connor Hellebuyck with 21 saves.

The Blues have outscored the Jets 17-5 in the three games at home after a 7-2 win in Game 3 and 5-1 in Game 4.

The likely Vezina Trophy winner was chased in each of the games in St. Louis, and the Blues chased Hellebuyck again, this time after two periods when he allowed five goals on 23 shots.

It was second period blitzkrieg that saw the Blues seize control of the game and force a Game 7 on Sunday at 6 p.m. in Winnipeg.

So without further ado, let’s go straight to Friday’s Three Takeaways:

* Four goals in 5:23 was an onslaught – There were some nervy moments there when the Jets tied the game early in the second period on a Cole Perfetti power-play goal, but just like the two previous home games, the Blues hit the Jets in the mouth.

One goal, two goals, three goals, four goals.

Game over.

Walker at 11:34. Schenn at 12:27. Fowler at 13:40. Toropchenko at 16:57.

And that was that.

It happened fast, it happened furious, it happened with precision.

Hellebuyck was staggered (again), and the crowd was electric, and as Schenn said, “It felt like when Fowler scored it almost popped the roof right off. It’s an unreal place to play, I’ve always said that about St. Louis. The fans are electric, full building every night, and they come to cheer with their Blues jersey on and pretty special city. We definitely embrace their energy.”

Walker got the lead back when he was positioned at the top of the crease when Broberg put on a skating clinic down the left hand side and around the net, before slipping a little cheeky pass that Walker tucked away for his third goal in two games.

“Whenever you can contribute and get the win, that’s obviously better than not,” Walker said. “’Broby’ made a great play there and I was just in the right spot at the right time.”

Schenn’s goal came off a breakout play when Ryan Suter hit Jake Neighbours, whose precision little touch pass off the boards sprung Schenn in stride, and like a crafty veteran, he used Jets defenseman Neal Pionk as a screen to snap a shot by Hellebuyck on the glove side.

Fowler’s goal was also a momentum play and he took advantage of the kind of traffic that makes Hellebuyck uncomfortable, and it was Walker there setting the screen that Hellebuyck never saw.

And Toropchenko finished off the onslaught when Faksa hit him in stride and he potted a shot from the slot, this time to the blocker side.

“We utilized our speed and our physicality,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought we were able to be physical down low, we were able to skate with some speed through the neutral zone and we were really committed to getting to the net front again. Those first couple of goals, they’re really good screen goals. That Faksa line was dominant tonight.”

* Faksa line sets tempo again, but is also now scoring – And that leads into the Faksa line.

Montgomery starts them seemingly every game, just like Craig Berube used to do with the Ivan Barbashev-Oskar Sundqvist-Alexander Steen fourth line of the Stanley Cup-winning team in 2019, and with good reason.

They do all the little things that make a line go and sets the tone for the rest of their linemates, but after collectively putting up four points in Game 5, the line had two goals and three assists in Game 6 and have 11 points in the series.

Faksa also had two assists to go with the contributions of Toropchenko and Walker.

“In a series, there’s the game within the game of a series,” Montgomery said. “They’re a load to handle. it doesn’t matter. They’ve scored goals against every D-pairing, so they’re hard to handle down low. Over and over it gets hard and they’re creating that identity that we look for that allows us to get to net fronts, to win races and get screened goals.”

It’s why teammates trust them in all situations.

“They’ve been the most consistent line all year with the way they play, pretty much right from Game 1,” Schenn said. “They don’t really get broken up that much and it’s almost like they play robotic because they’re so on the same page, they play on the goal line, they wear other teams down. They’re big, they can skate and they hold on to pucks and get to the net. Obviously good chemistry and guys that get along off the ice that’s translating on to the ice.”

Broberg added, "I think they've been great all year.  They work so hard and they play physical and they score goals, important goals, for us. And all three guys are great guys as well off the ice so you love to have them on your team, and they've been huge for us."

Oh, and hey Logan Stanley, 6-foot-7, 231-pound Logan Stanley ... 5-9, 187-pound Nathan Walker doesn't move that easily:

* Broberg’s goal timely – As for Broberg, his goal was so crucial.

There was a sense in the building that the Blues were somewhat tentative.

The Jets came out with a purpose, and the first five minutes or so, even though they didn’t get a high volume number of shots, they had an advantage with territorial possession of the puck.

But there was some footing with the Blues on that shift, and it was on a puck that got played by Justin Faulk behind the net while being challenged near the O-zone blue line, Jimmy Snuggerud found Robert Thomas, who in turn found Broberg in the high slot. And Broberg’s fluttering knuckle puck got through Hellebuyck as Pavel Buchnevich was doing a fly-by at the top of the crease that saw defenseman Dylan Samberg push Buchnevich into some contact.

“Yeah, I think they came out hard, for sure, and I think we responded well,” Broberg said. “After that, I think we played better and played to our strengths.”

It seemed to give the Blues some life and slowly but surely turn the tides in which they began to play more in the offensive zone and not allow Winnipeg, which was playing without Mark Scheifele due to his undisclosed injury in the first period of Game 5, to get to its forecheck and disrupt the Blues from transitional play.

“It was really important,” Montgomery said. “I thought it was a great play by Faulk to drive wide and that’s that speed we’re talking about and then we had people drive through and were able to go low to high and pound that puck. It was really important because I did not like the start of our first 8-10 minutes, then we started to come after that goal.”

* Bonus takeaway: Binnington made some precise saves – While a lot of the focus has been on Hellebuyck, Binnington was once again, with back against a wall, making timely saves.

It started with pushing from right to left on Nikolaj Ehlers 1:14 into the game. If the Jets score there, what kind of game are we talking about?

And there was another unbelievable save on Kyle Connor off a low-slot one-timer that he pushes left to right outstretched to keep a puck out.

“He’s the total package,” Fowler said. “He’s a huge reason why we are where we are and we’ll continue to lean on him because he’s shown everybody time and time again that he’s world class.”

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