Comrie comes up big for Jets in 3-1 win over Blues

WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Jets got nine points from just three players, but it was their backup goalie who made the difference in a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.

Mark Scheifele had two goals and an assist, but Eric Comrie made some brilliant saves in the 22 stops he recorded — especially when Winnipeg was clinging to a 2-1 lead — before 13,661 witnesses at Canada Life Centre.

“It was huge,” Scheifele said. “Coms played fantastic; he made a lot of big saves … When we needed him to make a big save, he made it. That was big. We just kind of stuck to our game and didn’t try to do anything too crazy and just stuck with it.”

Scheifele set up Josh Morrissey for the game’s opening goal, the first of two just 93 seconds apart on a first-period power play. With Nathan Walker serving a four-minute minor for high-sticking, Scheifele scored the second one.

Comrie then held the fort, only allowing a second-period power play marker by Jordan Kyrou at the 17:23 mark. Winnipeg’s Vladislav Namestnikov was serving a four-minute minor for high-sticking at the time.

“Yeah, (Comrie) played well,” said Justin Faulk, who set Kyrou up for a wicked shot that beat the Jets’ netminder. “We obviously didn’t get enough highballs in front of him to get some past him.

“Overall, our effort was much better tonight. We’re still struggling to get the puck in the net. But it’s disappointing, two games in a row, you’ve got a team on a back-to-back and we can’t get the job done. Those are the opportunities to get a team when you have a little bit of an advantage, travel especially, and it’s tough not to get those done.”

The Jets had lost 1-0 to the Blackhawks in Chicago on Monday.

Blues bench boss Jim Montgomery blamed his squad’s lack of accuracy.

“I think we had opportunities,” he said. “We continue to get the good opportunities we had — we were off-target a little too much with our opportunities and Comrie made some big saves.

“We’ve got to hit the net, we don’t have to be perfect. The way we’re converging at the net, 5-on-5, and the way we’re converging on the power play tonight, if we hit the net, there’s going to be rebounds there. Then, we’ve got to win those battles in those hard areas.”

Comrie got help from Nino Niederreiter. After a Cam Fowler shot trickled through Comrie’s legs, Niederreiter swept the puck off the goal line with Winnipeg leading 2-0 in the first.

“That was awesome,” said Morrissey, who also had two assists. “It’s those extra efforts — blocked shots, (Cole Perfetti) with one there, a bunch of other guys — obviously, (Scheifele) in the first period. And then, great goaltending from (Comrie). So, it’s a group effort and that’s what it takes to win those back-to-back games.

“And maybe, it’s a little bit extra defensively, like Nino there, and that obviously ended up being really big for us.”

Jets coach Scott Arniel also appreciated the Niederreiter goal-saving play.

“His hustle, to come all the way back on that — obviously, he could have let up, but that was a great play,” he said.

Scheifele salted the game away with his empty-netter at the 17:37 mark of the third.

“I liked our competitive spirit tonight, which was good,” Montgomery said. “We fought for all 60 minutes that we worked together. They got two really nice power-play goals, we only got one. That was the difference in the game.

“I thought, 5-on-5, we had a lot of really good looks and again, goal-scoring’s an issue. We’ve got to keep going to the hard areas and staying in the hard areas.”

Winnipeg improved to 20-23-6 and moved into a tie for 30th with St. Louis (19-23-8).

“Just to get the win is huge for our group,” Scheifele said. “We just need to keep it rolling.”

Kyke Connor also had two helpers.

It was the first of a three-game homestand for Winnipeg.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2026.