Big hits piling up as Jets, Blues brace for Game 3 in St. Louis

St. Louis Blues' Nathan Walker (26) checks Winnipeg Jets' Luke Schenn (5) during second period NHL playoff action in Winnipeg, Monday April 21, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Greenslade

WINNIPEG — A combined 148 hits through two playoff games is one reason the Jets and Blues could benefit from an extra day off before Thursday’s Game 3 in St. Louis.

Winnipeg leads the NHL best-of-seven Western Conference series 2-0. Only the club’s backup goalies and non-playing skaters took part in Tuesday’s optional skate. The Blues took the day off in Missouri.

Jets head coach Scott Arniel was asked if he’d prefer a shorter turnaround to build on the team’s momentum, but said he’s more focused on the bigger picture and extra rest.

“If we’re planning on playing awhile, I don’t mind,” he said.

“Because it is, it’s heavy and it’s fast, and there’s a lot of energy being spent. So I’m OK, it is what it is. Both teams are going through it. It gives a lot of our top players an extra day to kind of get set again.”

It’s not the only two-day break in the series. After Thursday night’s game, Game 4 is set for Sunday at noon local time. If a fifth tilt is needed, it’s scheduled for next Wednesday, with the start time still to be announced.

The eighth-seeded Blues began the hitfest right off the hop in last Saturday’s opening match, which the Jets won 5-3.

The Blues dished out five hits during their first shift and finished with 53. The Jets delivered 33.

Winnipeg had the 33-29 hit edge in Monday’s 2-1 victory, including a crushing check into the boards by six-foot-seven defenceman Logan Stanley on Blues forward Jordan Kyrou with the score 0-0 in the first period.

“It was a big moment,” Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo said after the game of Stanley’s hit. “He read the play well and finished strong.

‘It was a big hit … We got up on the bench, crowd got into it. Anytime you get a chance to lay a hit on their top-end guys, their skill guys, we want to make it hard on them.”

WARM-UP CONCERNS

During Monday’s warm-up, St. Louis backup goalie Joel Hofer and Winnipeg star centre Mark Scheifele were the last players on the ice for their teams.

Scheifele has a tradition of always being the last player off as the warm-up clock winds down. Hofer stuck around long on Monday and shot pucks toward Winnipeg’s net, where Scheifele was skating around and doing the same. Some pucks came close to him as his back was toward Hofer.

Fans started booing the Winnipeg-born netminder, and Scheifele looked down the ice at one point and made a gesture with his arm as though telling him to get off. The warm-up clock had run down. Hofer finally left, and Scheifele then went down the tunnel.

Arniel was asked Tuesday if he was concerned about what happened, and maybe the potential of Scheifele being tripped up by a puck.

“I think the league is going to have something to say about this. I’m sure we’re going to hear about it,” Arniel said.

“It has to do with when that clock (winding down). It affects when the Zamboni is coming out on the ice. That’s the stuff the league does not want. We’ll just let them handle it, and we’ll move on from there.”

SCHEIFELE SHINING

Scheifele, the team’s first draft pick for the Jets 2.0 version (seventh overall in 2011), leads the series ­— and the league — in playoff scoring with two goals and three assists before Tuesday’s games.

He became the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise’s all-time playoff points leader in Saturday’s win and now has 43.

With a goal and two assists in Game 1, followed by a goal and an assist on Monday, Scheifele became the first player in franchise history to record multi-point games in each of his first two outings to start a post-season.

The Kitchener, Ont., product finished the regular season with a career-high 87 points in 82 games.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2025.

Judy Owen, The Canadian Press