‘Embracing the pressure’: Jets look to make good on playoff expectations versus Blues

St. Louis Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker, left, blocks a shot from Winnipeg Jets center Adam Lowry during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Le)

WINNIPEG — Judgement Day has arrived for the Winnipeg Jets.

Despite the NHL team’s long list of regular-season accomplishments, many hockey fans will only view this campaign as a success if the Jets go deep in the playoffs.

The quest begins Saturday when Winnipeg takes on the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 of its best-of-seven Western Conference first-round playoff series before a “whiteout” full house at Canada Life Centre.

“Regardless of how well your regular season goes, you’re generally judged on performance in the playoffs and things like that,” Jets captain Adam Lowry said. “We’re embracing the pressure. We’re excited for the challenge ahead.”

Jets head coach Scott Arniel is well aware of the expectations.

“We’re still going to be judged on what happens from Game 83 on,” Arniel said after the team clinched its franchise-first Presidents’ Trophy for top regular-season record.

“There’s still lots to happen and, hopefully, there’s a long story to go with that and it gets to be a two-and-a-half-month long story.”

Winnipeg was eliminated in five games in the past two first rounds, including last year against Colorado after finishing fourth in the league with 52 wins.

The Jets carry a 56-22-4 record into the battle with the Blues – and the weight of fans’ Stanley Cup dreams.

The last Canadian team to win the championship was the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.

The deepest the Jets have gone was in 2017-18, when they reached the conference final and lost in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Last year’s early exit left a sense of disbelief that turned into a spark to start this season.

The Jets won 15 of their first 16 games and never let go of the conference’s top spot they reached on Jan. 14.

The club didn’t make splashy additions at the trade deadline, instead grabbing grit and experience in forward Brandon Tanev and two-time Stanley Cup-winning defenceman Luke Schenn.

“(Tanev is) so tenacious, he can kind of bring the building to its feet, just with a forecheck and kind of with his Tasmanian Devil-like energy,” Lowry said.

The series against the Blues (44-30-8) is expected to be a hard-hitting defensive matchup.

Winnipeg’s crease is manned by reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck, while St. Louis counters with veteran Jordan Binnington.

Under head coach Jim Montgomery (who replaced Drew Bannister in late November), the Blues went 19-4-3 after the 4 Nations Face-Off break in February and only clinched the final wild-card spot with a last-game victory over Utah.

Binnington was 13-3-1 during that span after helping deliver a gold medal to Canada in the tournament final against Hellebuyck and the United States.

The Jets hold the edge in offensive output, with 13 players registering 10 or more goals.

Kyle Connor led the team with a career-high 97 points, good for seventh in the league. His seventh-ranked 41 goals were two more than top-line centre Mark Scheifele, who finished with 87 points. Both played 82 games.

Robert Thomas had 21 goals and 81 points in 70 games for St. Louis. He takes a 12-game point streak into the playoffs (four goals, 21 assists). Jordan Kyrou tallied a team-high 36 goals and 70 points in 82 outings.

Both clubs have key injured players expected to miss the start of the series.

Jets second-line winger Nikolaj Ehlers is week to week. Top-line winger Gabriel Vilardi missed the last 11 regular-season games but is listed as day to day and skating on his own.

Blues second-line winger Dylan Holloway missed his team’s final five games. He’s week to week but skating on his own.

Season series

Hellebuyck and the Jets halted the Blues’ franchise-record, NHL season-longest 12-game win streak on April 7 with a 3-1 victory in Winnipeg. Manitoba-born backup Joel Hofer was in net for the visitors.

It gave the Jets a 3-1 season-series triumph, including a pair of wins in St. Louis. Backup Eric Comrie shut the door in a 4-3 shootout road win on Feb. 22 with Hofer on the other side.

Jets second-line winger Cole Perfetti collected a team-best five points (all assists) in the season series. Thomas led the Blues with three goals and five assists in his four games.

Last time out

The clubs’ previous playoff meeting was in 2019, a first-round series the Blues won in six games.

It was the start of a run that propelled St. Louis to its first Stanley Cup via a Game 7 victory over the Boston Bruins.

Breakout potential

Perfetti is pumped after playing 82 games for the first time in four seasons, including a career-high 50 points. He’s on the team’s first power-play unit in place of Ehlers.

The Whitby, Ont., product was a healthy scratch for some games down the stretch last season and only got into one playoff match. Injuries sidelined him for parts of his first two seasons.

Blues second-line winger Jimmy Snuggerud made his NHL debut April 1 and put up a goal and three assists in his first seven games.

Montgomery has noted the “hockey sense” of the 2022 first-round draft pick (23rd overall). He’s given the Minnesota-born forward time on the first power-play unit with the absence of Holloway.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2025.

Judy Owen, The Canadian Press