Los Angeles: Jaden Schwartz scored a hat-trick and the St. Louis Blues held off a furious third period Winnipeg rally on Saturday to oust the Jets from the NHL play-offs with a 3-2 victory.
Schwartz, who scored the game winner in a game-five triumph, opened the scoring just 23 seconds in and then added goals in the second and third periods as the Blues eliminated the Jets four games to two in the best-of-seven opening-round series.
Schwartz would have had four goals but he hit the right goalpost with a minute left in the third period in front of the sold out crowd at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
The Blues had to buck a few series trends to reach the second round, where they will face either the Dallas Stars or Nashville Predators.
Before game six, the road team had won the first five games of the series. By beating the visiting Jets, the Blues made sure that no best-of-seven series has ever had the visiting team win each of the first six games.
Also, each game saw the winning team rally from behind to win. It is just the 10th time in league history it has happened through the first five games.
Winnipeg did their best to try and keep that come-from-behind streak going by getting late third period goals from Dustin Byfuglien and Bryan Little but ultimately the Jets fell short.
