In a stunning comeback in a pivotal Game 5, Jaden Schwartz redirected in a pass from Tyler Bozak with 15 seconds to play to give the Blues a 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and take a 3-2 lead in their series.
The Blues will have a chance to clinch the series in Game 6 on Saturday at Enterprise Center.
The Blues scored three times in the third period, first by Ryan O'Reilly, then by Brayden Schenn with 6:08 to go in the period on a play that had to withstand a replay review in Toronto.
The last time the Blues overcame a two-goal deficit to win a playoff game was on April 25, 2002 against Chicago. This was, once again, a win for the road team, which has won all five games so far in the series.
The Blues closed the gap to one goal 1:29 into the third period on a power-play goal by O'Reilly, who got a rebound in front of the goal, moved the puck to his stick with his skate and then beat goalie Connor Hellebuyck.
The Blues had to kill a delay-of-game penalty on Joel Edmundson in the middle of the period. With 6:08 to go, Schenn tied the game with his first goal of the postseason. Oskar Sundqvist drove to the net and got hit, with the puck coming off his stick to Schenn, who backhanded it in. Schenn's shot went in just as the net went off its posts after Sundqvist was pushed into the net. After a review in Toronto, the goal stood and the game was tied.
The Jets almost went ahead but a late shot by Mark Scheifele went wide. In the closing seconds, Bozak, who was on the ice because Schenn had to leave for an equipment repair, got the puck along the boards and threw it toward the goal, where Schwartz knocked it in for his first goal of the playoffs.
The Blues kept themselves in the game in the second period with a four-minute penalty kill after a double minor penalty on Robert Thomas and with help from Winnipeg's Kevin Hayes, who inadvertently kept his own shot from going over the goal line.
Looking for some offense, Blues coach Craig Berube flipflopped David Perron, moving him up to the top line, and putting Schenn with Schwartz and Sundqvist on the second line.
After two periods, Winnipeg had a 22-21 edge in shots on goal.
The Blues had some more scoring chances in the second period, but again, to no avail.
The Blues had a fairly strong first period with several good scoring chances, but they couldn't score and made two defensive mistakes that led to the Winnipeg goals.
The first goal, the quickest one allowed by the Blues in the playoffs came after the Jets won the opening faceoff. Brandon Tanev and Andrew Copp won the battle for the puck in the corner and Tanev put a shot from low on goal. Jordan Binnington made the save, but the rebound went straight to Adam Lowry, who was alone in front and scored.
The Blues had several chances after that, including a breakaway by Sundqvist which ended with him shooting wide. A minute and a half after that, Kevin Hayes brought the puck into the Blues zone, met minimal resistance and went to the goal, where Binnington made the initial save but Hayes put the puck right back in.
The Blues outshot Winnipeg 15-12 and had a partial breakaway by Schwartz later in the period that got past Hellebuyck but went wide.
Winnipeg outhit the Blues 13-3 in the first period.
