The St. Louis Blues gave everything they had in the series against the Winnipeg Jets. They gave it their all and looked to be in control for most of the game, but tired legs and sloppy play late in the game appeared to be their downfall, which seemed to be a regular occurrence in this series. While there is blame to go around in the heartbreaking third-period collapse to the Jets, one man deserves praise for his performance, and that is Jordan Binnington.
The Blues came out of the gates hot, limiting the Jets to only three shots in the first. However, as the game went on, Binnington got increasingly busy. Halfway through the second, the Jets shortened the lead to one after a Cole Perfetti power-play goal that beat a heavily screened Binnington over his shoulder. The Blues brought the lead back to two with less than 30 seconds left in the second period, and from then on, it was all Jets.
The Blues had a two-goal lead with 20 minutes to play to book their ticket to the second round. However, the trend of every game played in Winnipeg reappeared as it looked like the Blues ran out of gas and were hoping to survive. If there was any moment you needed Binnington to show up, this was the time. Even though the Blues lost, it was not because Binnington did not show up. He did everything he could to try and hold that lead, but sometimes the hockey gods have other plans.
With less than five minutes to go, Binnington came up with a big stop on Nikolaj Ehlers, which saw his shot get deflected in front, but the netminder adjusted to make the save. Deflections became an important reason why the Blues lost this game. With just under two minutes left to play in the game, Jets forward Vladislav Namestnikov took a low shot to try and force a rebound, but instead deflected off of Ryan Suter's skate and into the back of the net, a bad break for Binnington. With just over a minute left to play, Binnington made a huge goal-line save to preserve the one-goal lead, and it looked like that could have been the Jets' last big chance to tie it. However, with time ticking down, Ehlers fanned on his one-timer attempt, and the Blues could not get to the loose puck. Ehlers got the puck back and found Kyle Conner, who threw the puck in the direction of the net, and Perfetti got his stick on it to redirect it into the back of the net with 1.6 seconds left on the clock. The constant pressure and traffic in front of Binnington were too much for him to handle on his own.
The Blues were running on fumes from the start of the third period onwards. After the Blues outshot the Jets in the first two periods, 16 to 13, they only managed 13 shots for the rest of the game. While the Blues faltered, the Jets picked up the pace, outshooting the Blues 34 to 13 from the start of the third period till the end of the game. Binnington kept the Blues in the game for as long as he could, making big stop after big stop. None more important than the one Ehlers, who shot through the Blues' defence on a breakaway, but Binnington made a crucial glove save to keep the game tied. We have seen time and time again where Binnington comes up huge for the Blues, and the team finds a way to squeeze out a victory. Unluckily for the Blues, this was not one of those times. With four minutes remaining in double overtime, Neal Pionk's point shot was deflected in by the Jets' captain, Adam Lowry, breaking the hearts of the Blues players, who were so close to completing the first-round upset.
The Blues gave everything they had, but it was not enough to overcome the Presidents' Trophy-winning Jets team. Despite the heartbreaking finish, Binnington's performance stood out and reminded the fans that his ability to rise to the moment is second to none. If there were ever talks before the season started about how much longer Binnington would be the man in the nets going forward, I do not believe he will be going away anytime soon.