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Three Takeaways From Blues' 3-1 Loss Against Jets

St. Louis Blues forward Jordan Kyrou (25) battles Winnipeg Jets defenseman Haydn Fleury on Monday. (James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images)

All good things must come to an end, and for the St. Louis Blues, a franchise record came to an end on Monday.

The Winnipeg Jets ended the Blues' record 12-game winning streak with a defensive clinic, winning a knock-em-out, drag-em-out 3-1 victory at Canada Life Centre.

Alex Iafallo's rebound goal at 7:05 of the third period snapped a 1-all tie and enabled the Jets (53-21-4) to end the Blues' streak and keep them from clinching a playoff spot in the process and dropping their record to 43-29-7.

Pavel Buchnevich scored for the fourth time in five games, and Joel Hofer had himself a steady performance with 23 saves.

The Blues' lead on the Minnesota Wild remains two points, but the Wild now have a game in hand and hold the tie-breaker with regulation wins (33-31), so the Blues will all but likely need to have more points than Minnesota in the battle for the first wild card.

Let's dive into Monday's Three Takeaways:

* Blues didn't handle Jets pressure -- For the first time in quite some time, the Blues seemed a bit overwhelmed.

The Jets came out with a plan of attack with a forechecking style and had the Blues hemmed in the zone for large swaths of the game.

The Blues have been good at puck retrievals and moving it out of the zone effectively, especially during this 12-game run, but the Jets seemed to be a step ahead and disrupted a lot of the play, hemmed the Blues in their own end, retrieved pucks and kept pressure on, especially in the first period when shots were 8-3 and 31-8 on attempts.

What the Blues did do well was block shots (14 in the first period) and kept the Jets away from Grade A scoring opportunities, and when Hofer was called upon, he stood his ground.

The Blues pushed back in the second period and played pretty evenly there, and got an equalizing goal from Buchnevich on what amounted to be the line with Robert Thomas and Jimmy Snuggerud, their best shift of the game to that point, but the Jets were able to get back on the front foot again in the third and limited the Blues to four shots while putting on pressure in all three zones and again clogging the middle of the ice.

On the Buchnevich goal, Thomas, who was named the NHL's third star of the week last week, did extend his point streak to nine games (four goals, 16 assists).

The Blues just had trouble for large portions of the game moving through the three zones and when they did, the Jets were right in their face to disrupt the flow. There simply wasn't any time or space out there.

* Two costly mistakes; in a game like this, Blues didn't KISS -- In what amounted to be a playoff type of feel to it, this game had all the earmarks of just playing a simple, play-it-safe, chip pucks and go on the hunt, not risky types of plays.

And it amounted to be just that, but two costly errors in a game where scoring chances were going to be limited proved to be the fatal pills to swallow for the Blues.

On the first, the Blues had, for one of the few times after being overwhelmed in the first period, possession of the puck in the offensive zone and near the blue lineCam Fowler gave the puck to Mathieu Joseph, and instead of making a 'KISS' play (Keep It Simple Stupid), perhaps just whipping it down low and allow the forecheckers to go to work, Joseph tried a return flip pass, and a stick from Josh Morrissey broke it up and Morgan Marron was off to the races down the right side.

Joseph was in pursuit, but Barron fought off Joseph and cut to the net and buried a shot low to the far side at 2:34 of the second period for a 1-0 Winnipeg lead.

And despite being outplayed for a good stretch, in a 1-1 game in the third period, the Jets had a hard forecheck in progress again, but the Blues were able to move the puck to the wall and get it away from danger and onto the stick of Buchnevich. Again, 'KISS' ... flip it out of the zone and reload, move it along the wall, not make that flip pass towards the middle of the ice. Well, that's what he tried to do, it got picked off and Iafallo knocked in a rebound at 7:27 for a 2-1 lead.

This game had all the earmarks that it needed to be a safe kind of a period, manage the game properly, get it to overtime, get a crucial point and fight for a second one, which they've been able to do.

Once the Jets got that go-ahead marker, it just felt like they would lock the remainder of the game down and that's what they did.

When the Blues did pull Hofer, they did have some good sustained zone time, but there were simply no shooting lanes. The Jets clogged the middle and made the ice as mucky as possible. Buchnevich did have a big chance late but hit Connor Hellebuyck in the chest with the chance to tie.

* Faksa line provided consistent forecheck -- On a positive note, I liked the play of Radek Faksa, Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan Walker in this game and coach Jim Montgomery rewarded that trio with 14:27, 14:38 and 16:06 of ice time, respectively.

The Blues had just 15 shots on goal in the game, which matched a season low, and that group had 33 percent of them.

The first period in particular, when the Blues could not generate anything offensively, when the Faksa line stepped onto the ice, it played the game to its strengths: get pucks deep, go to work, play below the goal line, force the Jets to work and they did.

Faksa had an early two-shot chance early in the second period to actually put the Blues ahead by driving the net but was stopped. The game was played to this line's strengths and I thought this trio played it to a tee and did exactly what it needed to do to have success.

* Hear what Montgomery and Buchnevich and Brayden Schenn had to say after the game:

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Reality Is Staring The Rangers Straight In The Face

Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images

The New York Rangers’ playoff hopes continue to dwindle as they lost 5-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night. 

Going into this matchup, the Rangers were six points out of the second wild-card spot, so a win was absolutely necessary. 

Despite a strong start, the Rangers quickly ran into trouble. 

Tampa Bay scored three goals in the span of 1:42 seconds in the first period with the Rangers committing two penalties. 

After 20 minutes of play, the Rangers trailed 3-0 and were booed off of the ice by the fans. 

In the second period, the Blueshirts showed some signs of life and Mika Zibanejad struck gold on the power play, cutting the Lightning’s lead to 3-1. 

However, in the final frame, the Rangers committed two more penalties, resulting in Brayden Point’s second power-play goal. 

It doesn't matter if the Rangers had some pushback through parts of the game, they made one too many mistakes early on in the contest and put themselves in an insurmountable hole to climb out of. 

“The last eight or nine minutes is where we lost the game tonight,” Peter Laviolette said. 

The Rangers are a fragile team and that was on full display tonight. When one thing goes wrong, the Blueshirts seem to panic and everything spirals out of control. 

It’s also hard to win a game after committing five penalties. These mistakes that the Rangers continually make whether it’s the defensive breakdowns, sloppy turnovers, or careless penalties are simply unacceptable. 

The mood around the team is demoralizing. The post game press conferences are beginning to get shorter and shorter. From Laviolette to the players to the reporters, everybody is running out of things to say. 

The Rangers also realize that time is running out to turn things around. Reality is staring them straight in the face. 

“It's terrible... If we keep playing like that, we’re going to miss the playoffs,” Artemi Panarin said.

The Rangers will be back in action on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.

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Mets' Francisco Lindor reflects on 1,500th career hit, but more focused on 'playing good baseball'

Mets star Francisco Lindor joined an exclusive club during Monday's night 2-0 win over the Miami Marlins, recording the 1,500th hit of his MLB career.

Lindor singled on a line drive to left field against Marlins' Tyler Phillips in the bottom of the fifth inning, giving him three hits on the night and bringing his career total to the milestone number.

The shortstop recorded 896 hits over 777 games during his six years in Cleveland, and has totaled 604 hits over 607 games with the Mets in four-plus seasons.

"It means I've been in the big leagues for 10 years plus," Lindor joked after the game. "It's special, it's definitely special. I'm blessed, I'm blessed to be in the position I'm in.

"I've been blessed to be surrounded by a lot of good coaches, a lot of good hitting coaches, a lot of teammates that help me and give me good scouting reports and help me be successful in this league. I'm very appreciative of the moment and everybody that's contributed to my journey, but I'm just happy we won today."

He has a long ways to go to reach Yankees legend Derek Jeter's all-time total among shortstops at 3,465 hits, but is now the 24th active MLB player with 1,500 career hits. Freddie Freeman has the most among active player with 2,270 hits, and Mets teammate Starling Marte is tied for 18th with Jason Heyward at 1,562 hits.

Based on Lindor's career average of 175 hits per season, he'd need to reach that mark for eight more seasons and then get another 100 hits to get 3,000 career hits.

After the win, Lindor was asked about the thought of playing another decade and what that would mean for his career, including the possibility of making the Hall of Fame.

"No... it does go to a place where it's like, 'Wow, this is a cool moment,'" Lindor said. "But you just got to continue to put your head down and climb the mountain, you can't let it get too big."

"I would love to be there one day, but it's still very far for me," Lindor said on making the HOF. "I look at a guy like Carlos Beltran that has twice the numbers I have today and he's not in there right now and I think he should be a Hall of Famer. You have guys like Jimmy Rollins that I think should also be in the Hall of Fame, yet they're not in it. For me the Hall of Fame is still far-fetched. I would love to be there one day, it would be one of the biggest honors, if not the biggest, of my career, but still a long way to go."

Beltran missed out on the Hall earlier this year, his third year on the ballot. The outfielder with 2,745 hits and 435 HRs received 70.3 percent of the votes, just shy of the 75 percent of the vote required to enter. Rollins totaled 2,455 hits and won the NL MVP in 2007 and a World Series title in 2008, among other accolades. He got 14.8 percent of the vote this year and has increased his total each year over his three years on the ballot.

Regardless if Lindor makes the Hall one day or not, the 31-year-old is focused on helping this Mets team win early in the season -- especially compared to 2024's 0-5 start.

"It's way better than last year," Lindor said. "Winning brings teams together, as well as losing, but most of the time winning brings teams together. You can feel the vibes. Even though we had fantastic vibes during spring training, you can tell guys are in a much better place today than they were in the middle of spring training. This month you got to grind, it's cold, it's not fun. You got to get it done.

"And to be able to win games, close games, it says a lot about our pitching staff and a lot about our defense and our hitters... We're winning the games, but we're playing good baseball. That's what I care about."

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Mets’ dominant pitching continues as winning streak reaches five: ‘It’s contagious’

The Mets’ pitching staff continues leading the way early on. 

On Monday night, it was Kodai Senga’s turn and he battled through some cold weather to put together five strong innings of work facing a Marlins lineup he saw just six days ago in his first outing of the season. 

As was the case in that meeting, Senga fell into some trouble in the first inning after allowing a walk and a single to the first two batters, but this time he was able to escape the threat with some help from Hayden Senger’s first career caught stealing. 

The right-hander made some adjustments and settled into a groove from there -- before he was faced with some traffic in both the fourth and the fifth -- but he used a pair of double plays balls to again dance his way out of danger. 

Overall, he allowed two walks and five hits while striking out four in five shutout frames.

“That first inning I could tell they did their homework,” Senga said through a translator. “They researched me up pretty good -- but we had a good gameplan tonight, Senger did a good job calling the game and we had good results.”

Carlos Mendoza said he probably could’ve returned to the mound for the sixth, but with it still being so early in the season, he decided to turn things over to the bullpen. 

Danny Young entered and worked around a leadoff single in the sixth, before Jose Butto stepped up with two scoreless innings of work, and then Ryne Stanek slammed the door shut with his first save as a Met. 

With four more scoreless innings, the bullpen now has a league-best 1.13 ERA on the season. 

“It’s very much pass the ball off to the next guy and keep the line moving,” Stanek said. “Guys just see the guy in front of them doing their job and don’t want to be the one that doesn’t -- guys are throwing the ball good, attacking the zone and just getting after it.” 

And it’s not just the bullpen who has been getting the job done.

The starters haven’t been working deep into games in the early going, but they’ve still been putting together terrific results of their own -- the 1.72 team ERA is the second-best produced through the first 10 games of the season in franchise history.

“It’s a combination of a lot of things,” Carlos Mendoza said. “But I said it before the game, it’s contagious, it’s like hitting -- they’re feeling pretty good about themselves right now. They know that they have each others back and that’s a good feeling as a unit.”