Scheifele, Connor lead Jets to 2-1 win over Blues for 2-0 series lead

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Mark Scheifele had a goal and assist, Kyle Connor scored his second consecutive game-winner in the third period, and the Winnipeg Jets beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Monday night for a 2-0 lead in their opening-round playoff series.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 21 shots to help the Jets take a 2-0 playoff series lead for the first time in three seasons. The past two years, Winnipeg won the first game and then lost the next four to be eliminated.

“I don’t know if it’s a mental boost, but we’re aware of it coming into it,” Connor said. “I think over the past couple of years, this group is motivated.

“We talked about it over the offseason, we preached about it all year, it’s in this room. Everybody needs to be better, bear down, it’s dragging everybody into the fight. Yeah it’s a second win, but we’re not resting here. We’ve got a long ways to go.”

Taking a 2-0 lead in the series wasn’t cause for celebration by Jets coach Scott Arniel.

“This is all (about) Game 3 now,” Arniel said. “We’ll do our postgame work tomorrow or over the next couple of days here. The guys know how hard it is, now.”

Rookie Jimmy Snuggerud scored his first playoff goal and Jordan Binnington had 20 saves for the eighth-seeded Blues.

“Winnipeg has made one more play than us. Both games,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “Shots are dead even, so they’re just making one more play, and their best players are making them.”

St. Louis hosts Game 3 on Thursday.

Connor made it 2-1 at 1:43 of the third period after getting a feed out front by Cole Perfetti at the side of the net.

Scheifele escaped Blues defenseman Cam Fowler behind the St. Louis net and sent the puck to Perfetti to feed Connor.

“Scheif is so smart when it comes to that, body positioning, getting inside a guy or just making a little poke on the puck,” Perfetti said. “And he was able to get the guy’s stick and then make just a little poke. That was all that he needed for the puck to come to me and create that little bit of space.”

The Blues got their fourth straight power play six minutes later, but Winnipeg’s defenders killed it.

The Blues continued their hitting ways from the first game’s 5-3 loss and the Jets didn’t back down.

Within the first minute of Game 2, St. Louis skaters delivered five hits. Winnipeg responded with a pair of their own.

Jets 6-foot-7 defenseman Logan Stanley later crushed Jordan Kyrou into the boards. The forward carefully went to the bench with about seven minutes remaining in the period.

Blues captain Brayden Schenn, who had seven hits in the first period of Game 1, skated across the ice and flew into Jets captain Adam Lowry. He finished with four hits in the period.

“After the game you go home and you feel sore, but it’s a good sore, and a good tired,” said Jets defenseman Luke Schenn, who had seven hits. “You know, when you come away with the win, it obviously doesn’t hurt as much.”

Scheifele scored on a great effort to get around a St. Louis defender and then fired a backhand from the slot. The puck bounced off Snuggerud into the net with 3:28 left.

Winnipeg didn’t capitalize on two power plays, but the Blues cashed in on their first one.

Snuggerud made up for the earlier bad bounce by sending the puck high over Hellebuyck’s blocker side on the man advantage with 2 seconds remaining in the period to make it 1-1.

Montgomery flipped Snuggerud and left-winger Jake Neighbours for the game, moving the former University of Minnesota star from the second line to the top one with center Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich. He said the motive was producing more offense.

Both teams tallied 16 hits each in the first period, and the Blues outshot the Jets 10-8.

St. Louis came up empty on two power plays in the second period and both teams fired seven shots at the goalies.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

St. Louis Blues' Robert Thomas (18) celebrates a goal on on Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) on a shot by Jimmy Snuggerud, not shown, during the first period of an NHL playoff game in Winnipeg, Monday April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Blues' Jimmy Snuggerud, left, celebrates after his goal against the Winnipeg Jets with Cam Fowler (17) during the first period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Monday April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Blues' Brayden Schenn (10) checks Winnipeg Jets' Adam Lowry (17) during the first period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Monday April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets' David Gustafsson (19) carries the puck past St. Louis Blues' Justin Faulk (72) during the second period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Monday April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Blues' Jake Neighbours, center, falls over Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington, right, as he is checked by Winnipeg Jets' Adam Lowry (17) during the third period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Monday April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Blues' Jake Neighbours, center, falls over Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington, right, as he is checked by Winnipeg Jets' Adam Lowry (17) during the third period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Monday April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) makes a save against Winnipeg Jets' Luke Schenn (5) as Blues' Justin Faulk (72) defends during the third period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Monday April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) makes a save against a St. Louis Blues shot during the third period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Monday April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington, left, clears the puck away from Winnipeg Jets' Vladislav Namestnikov (7) during the third period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Monday April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) makes a save against St. Louis Blues' Jimmy Snuggerud (21) during the third period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Monday April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets' Mark Scheifele (55) celebrates his goal on St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) with teammates during the first period of an NHL hockey playoff game in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Monday April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets' Kyle Connor (81) celebrates after his goal against the St. Louis Blues with Mark Scheifele (55) during the third period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Monday April 21, 2025. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is preventing non-paying users from generating or editing images after a global backlash erupted over sexualized deepfakes of people, but the change has not satisfied authorities in Europe.

The chatbot, which is accessed through Musk's social media platform X, has in the past few weeks been granting a wave of what researchers say are malicious user requests to modify images, including putting women in bikinis or in sexually explicit positions.

Researchers have warned that in a few cases, some images appeared to depict children. Governments around the world have condemned the platform and opened investigations.

On Friday, Grok responded to image altering requests with the message: “Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers. You can subscribe to unlock these features.”

While subscriber numbers for Grok aren't publicly available, there was a noticeable decline Friday in the number of explicit deepfakes that Grok is now generating compared with just days earlier.

Grok was still granting image requests but only from X users with blue checkmarks given to premium subscriber who pay $8 a month for features including higher usage limits for the chatbot.

An X spokesperson didn't respond immediately to a request for comment.

The restrictions for users save for paying subscribers did not appear to change the opinions of leaders or regulators in Europe.

“This doesn't change our fundamental issue. Paid subscription or non-paid subscription, we don't want to see such images. It's as simple as that,” said Thomas Regnier, a spokesman for the European Union's executive Commission. The Commission had earlier slammed Grok for “illegal” and “appalling” behavior.

The British government was also unsatisfied.

Grok’s changes are “not a solution," said Geraint Ellis, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who on Thursday had threatened unspecified action against X.

“In fact, it is insulting to the victims of misogyny and sexual violence,” he said, noting that it shows that X “can move swiftly when it wants to do so.”

“We expect rapid action,” he said, adding that “all options are on the table.”

Starmer, speaking to Greatest Hits radio, had said that X needs to "get their act together and get this material down. We will take action on this because it’s simply not tolerable.”

The U.K.'s media and privacy regulators both said this week they’ve contacted X and Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI for information on measures taken to comply with British regulations.

France, Malaysia and India have also been scrutinizing the platform and a Brazilian lawmaker has called for an investigation. The European Commission has ordered X to retain all internal documents and data relating to Grok until the end of 2026, as part of a wider investigation under the EU’s digital safety law.

Grok is free to use for X users, who can ask it questions on the social media platform. They can either tag it in posts they've directly created or in replies to posts from other users.

Grok launched in 2023. Last summer the company added an image generator feature, Grok Imagine, that included a so-called “spicy mode” that can generate adult content.

The problem is amplified both because Musk pitches his chatbot as an edgier alternative to rivals with more safeguards, and because Grok’s images are publicly visible, and can therefore be easily spread.

AP writers Jill Lawless in London and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

FILE - Workers install lighting on an "X" sign atop the company headquarters, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, July 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)