ST. LOUIS - The Winnipeg Jets have an opportunity to eliminate the St. Louis Blues tonight in Game 6 of the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but in order to do so, they'll have to accomplish something no team in the National Hockey League - besides themselves - have accomplished since the 4-Nations Face-Off:
Beat the Blues at Enterprise Center.
Since the Jets earned a shootout win over St. Louis back on February 22, the Blues have put together 14 consecutive wins on home ice. The most recent two of those victories came in this best-of-seven series against the Jets.
The Jets are coming off a 5-3 win over St. Louis in Game 5, and know they'll need to be at their best once again if they want to eliminate one of their Central Division rivals.
"The last one is the hardest one to get," said Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo, who notched his first career postseason goal in Game 5. "And obviously, a team that's a lot like us that plays really good at home, and so we're going to have to do the job again, and if not, bring that even more. It's going to be a tough game. And we'll have to be ready right from puck drop."
Mark Scheifele didn't make the trip after leaving Game 5 due to injury. Jets head coach Scott Arniel didn't get into details outside of listing the forward as day-to-day. It’s a big hole to fill in the line-up, but there is a chance that Winnipeg could get a healthy body back in the line-up for the second straight game in this series.
Nikolaj Ehlers, who has yet to play in the series, was a full participant in the morning skate after wearing a non-contact jersey for the last few days. He’s officially listed as a game-time decision.
“It arrived a lot quicker than we thought,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel about Ehlers’ potential return. “We’ll see. We have to get through here. We’ll see how he is. He’s looking good and he’s pretty comfortable, so we’ll see.”
Ehlers was injured on April 12 in Chicago when he collided with a linesman on a stretch pass in the neutral zone. The 29-year-old also missed time earlier in April after blocking a shot against the Vegas Golden Knights on April 3.
Those injuries put the brakes on what was close to a career year for Ehlers, who had 24 goals (five short of his career high) and 63 points (one shy of his career best) in 69 total games.
Ehlers was on a line with Cole Perfetti and Adam Lowry at the morning skate.
“It would be a big boost if he’s good to go,” said Lowry of Ehlers. “If we can have him step in the line-up that’s a big boost for our offensive game, a big boost for our transition game. Adding another elite player into the line-up, it would be a huge boost especially with the loss of Scheif for tonight.”
The full line rushes looked like this, with Connor Hellebuyck expected to get the start in goal after stopping 16 of 19 shots in Game 5:
Connor-Namestnikov-Vilardi
Ehlers-Lowry-Perfetti
Niederreiter-Barron-Appleton
Tanev-Toninato-Iafallo
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Schenn
Dominic Toninato will see his first action of the postseason slotted between Brandon Tanev and Alex Iafallo. The 31-year-old has played six career games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with three of those coming with the Jets in 2021.
That spring, there weren’t any fans in the stands. It’ll be much different this time around.
“That was definitely a weird time, for sure,” laughed Toninato. “I’m very excited. It’s been a very physical series, I think it’s been great hockey up and down for both teams. Obviously the hardest thing to do is close out a team and end their season. We know they’re going to come out with a push tonight.”
Toninato played five games for the Jets this season, and registered 18 goals and 36 points in 60 games as the captain of the Manitoba Moose this season.
“He’s got some grit to him. He’s good on face-offs,” said Arniel. “Looking at that line, it gives them some identity. He’s played games for us this year, he’s played in the past. I like a lot of what he brings.”
The Jets know the opportunity that’s in front of them tonight, but if they want the reward, they know they’ll have to play their best game of the series.
“Looking back at Game 5, that was our best game of the series,” said Lowry. “(St. Louis) has played two excellent games (at Enterprise Center). They come out, they skate hard, they forecheck and really got on the body – and really put us on our heels.
“If we have that attack mindset, that quick-skating forechecking mentality we had in Game 5, that’s kind of the way we can break that down.”
Puck drop is set for 7 pm CT.
