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Sports

Jets seek better effort against Blues

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

(SportsNetwork.com) - Winnipeg goaltender Ondrej Pavelec noted that his club lost to a good team last time out. Things don't get any easier for the Jets on Sunday afternoon as they take on the visiting St. Louis Blues.

The Jets were bested 4-3 by the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday despite taking a one-goal lead into the third period. The Red Wings, though, struck twice and outshot the Jets 14-9 in the final frame.

Dustin Byfuglien and Adam Lowry both snapped 14-game goal droughts in defeat, while Mathieu Perreault also scored as Winnipeg fell to 1-2-1 in its past four games.

"We lost against a really good team. Overall I think the game was OK. We just couldn't finish it in the third period," said Pavelec, who ended up 23 saves.

Pavelec played for the first time since getting pulled after 20 minutes versus Minnesota on Nov. 16. He allowed three goals on 11 shots and has now lost three straight decisions.

Pavelec is 2-3-1 lifetime versus the Blues with a 2.62 goals against average and .919 save percentage in six meetings.

The Blues sit one point back of first place in the Central Division and snapped a two-game slide with Saturday's 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators. Brian Elliott made 24 saves as St. Louis allowed only five shots in the third period.

Alex Steen, Max Lapierre and Vladimir Tarasenko all scored in St. Louis' 11th victory in 14 games.

"We don't play well on a three-quarter-ice game when we're defending. We don't play that well," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We're better off playing on our toes and we were able to do that for most of the third period, which was a good feeling for all of us."

St. Louis lost defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to a lower-body injury in Saturday's game and his status for this game is unknown.

Backup goaltender Jake Allen, meanwhile, is likely to face the Jets for the first time in his young career tonight. He has gone 5-2-0 in seven starts for the Blues this season, posting a 2.00 GAA, .922 save percentage and two shutouts.

The Blues have won four in a row versus the Jets and are 7-0-1 in the past eight meetings. They also have gone 4-0-2 in the last six encounters as the visiting team.

This is the first of five meetings between the clubs this season.