ST. LOUIS _ Like a tax deduction, Ryan O'Reilly squeezed in his first home goal of the season just before the New Year.
In the Blues' last home game of the 2019 calendar year, O'Reilly scored late in the first period Sunday to give the Blues a 1-0 lead over the Winnipeg Jets at Enterprise Center.
And that proved to be a good omen, as the Blues ran their winning streak to eight games with a 4-1 win Sunday over the Jets.
Jaden Schwartz got what proved to be the game-winner late in the second period, Robert Thomas provided some cushion with a rebound roof shot on the power play seven minutes into the third period. Schwartz then added an empty-netter in the final minute.
Winnipeg (21-15-3) did not lead for a single second in a home-and-home weekend series. As for the Blues (26-8-6), they have outscored the opposition 33-16 during this eight-game winning streak, their longest of the season and the longest current streak in the league.
All eight games of this streak have come against Western Conference foes, and the Blues are 19-2-3 against the conference. That's called being Best in the West.
The teams traded goals in the second period, with Nicholas Shore tying the game 1-1 after a turnover by Robert Bortuzzo in the St. Louis zone.
With the Shore goal, Winnipeg had outshot St. Louis 7-0 in the first 5:40 of the period. Play opened up after that, with lots of end-to-end action by both teams.
St. Louis regained the lead on a 2-on-1 rush, when a patient and precise seam pass from Jordan Kyrou resulted in a Jaden Schwartz goal and a 2-1 Blues lead at the 15:09 mark of the second.
But back to that O'Reilly shot. On an aggressive rush by the Blues down the ice, Oskar Sundqvist's shot in the slot was blocked by a Winnipeg defender. The puck rolled to Alex Pietrangelo who shot from about the same spot in the slot.
Both David Perron and O"Reilly were stationed at the left net front, and it was O'Reilly who knocked the rebound past Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck for his eighth goal of the season.
Pietrangelo's assist on the O'Reilly goal gave him 326 for his career, passing Al MacInnis for first among Blues defensemen in franchise history.
Until Sunday, O'Reilly last scored at Enterprise on June 9 against Boston in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Overall it was a tight-checking period, with the Blues outshooting Winnipeg 7-6. The Blues had some scary moments late in the period killing off an O'Reilly tripping penalty, including a rocket by Patrik Laine that hit the post.
