Can Blues force Game 7 against Jets? It wouldn't be surprising, but they've got work to do

New York Times

01-05-2025

WINNIPEG — The St. Louis Blues' season has been so surprising that it isn't hard to envision them winning Game 6 against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday and sending this Western Conference first-round series back north.
Close your eyes and you can see Blues players skating out to tap goalie Jordan Binnington on the top of the mask, and a rambunctious sellout crowd of 18,096 saluting them for pushing the Presidents' Trophy team to the brink.
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They believe it.
'I do,' Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. 'I believe in our group. We've done it here for two and a half months. There's no reason to believe that we're not going to be coming out full force and trying to force a Game 7.'
If they think it's possible, who are we — the ones who prematurely gave up on them even making the playoffs, the ones who lost hope once they fell 2-0 in the series — to say they can't?
Let's give the Blues the benefit of the doubt. But if that scene is going to take place at Enterprise Center on Friday, they've got work to do after a 5-3 loss in Game 5 Wednesday that gave Winnipeg a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The game started just like the first four with bodies flying everywhere on every shift. It quickly became clear whose night it was going to be, though.
After losing star forward Mark Scheifele to a first-period injury, Winnipeg ramped up in the second period. The Jets outshot the Blues 14-3 that period, and though Jimmy Snuggerud tied the score 2-2, the home team took control for good.
The Blues got two of their three goals from Nathan Walker on the fourth line, which also had five of the team's 19 shots. Outside of them and Binnington, who didn't have much of a chance on the Jets' non-empty-net goals, they looked nothing like a team trying to put itself in a clinching scenario Friday.
'They were better than us,' Montgomery said. 'We've got to be more connected. I didn't think our puck support was good enough. I didn't think we got back quick enough. I didn't think we won our forecheck; we didn't establish it. It's every facet.
'But you know what, it's a series, it's going to happen. We're not happy about it, but we're onto the next one. It's as simple as that. We've got to forget about it.'
The teams have had three two-day breaks in this series, but they will have a quick turnaround after traveling to St. Louis on Thursday. Game 6 is set for 7 p.m. (CT).
It's unknown at this point whether Winnipeg will have Scheifele, who was on the receiving end of a heavy hit by Blues captain Brayden Schenn less than seven minutes into the game.
Schenn, who was assessed a two-minute minor for interference and two minutes for roughing, said afterward, 'I haven't seen the replay, but I don't believe I hit him in the head.'
Scheifele played three more shifts before being hit again by the Blues' Radek Faksa. After that hit, he took one more shift, then left and didn't return at the start of the second period.
Which hit ended Scheifele's night depended on who you asked.
'Let's make it clear: No. 55 (Scheifele) got hurt from the Faksa hit,' Montgomery said. 'He played six minutes after the Schenn hit. He didn't come back after he got rocked by Faksa.'
Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel was told about Montgomery's comment and replied: 'I didn't know Monty got his medical degree, trying to say how our player got hurt. He's way off base.'
Whoever delivered the blow in question, or whether or not Scheifele plays in Game 6, will have little bearing on whether the Blues can send the series back to Winnipeg.
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They've got a lot of cleaning up to do, and there's a checklist of other items.
When the Blues are connected, breaking the puck out of their zone and forechecking, they can play with anybody in the NHL playoffs. When they're not, they look like a team still in a retool.
'Too spread out,' forward Oskar Sundqvist said.
In the second period, the Jets directed 33 shots on net to the Blues' seven.
'They were kind of beating us to both goal lines, so we spent a lot of time in our end and not as much in theirs,' defenseman Justin Faulk said.
So what changed after the Blues were so dominant in Games 3 and 4, outscoring the Jets 12-3?
'I mean, there are adjustments always, right?' Schenn said. 'I just don't think we liked our game tonight. We weren't good enough tonight to turn the tides. We got some key goals at key times and just weren't able to grab momentum after that. Obviously, it's a little bit deflating.'
After chasing Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck out of back-to-back games in St. Louis, their plan in Game 5 had to be to pepper the Vezina Trophy finalist. They did do that Wednesday, with Walker scoring on a deflection of a shot by Colton Parayko and Snuggerud putting an innocent shot past the netminder.
But they didn't do it nearly enough against someone trying to regain their confidence in this series.
In the Blues' two wins in this series, they have 26 shots. In their three losses, they have 19.3 attempts.
'Shots, traffic,' Schenn said. 'We made it too easy on him tonight and we know that.'
It's tough to say after the offensive outburst in St. Louis, but the Blues need more production from their top three forward lines. After five games, three of their top-six scorers are defensemen: Cam Fowler (9 points), Parayko (4) and Faulk (3).
Pavel Buchnevich had a hat trick in Game 3 and has seven points in the series. Robert Thomas has two goals and seven points. Jake Neighbours has a goal and five points. But Jordan Kyrou has just two points and is a team-worst minus-5 in the series. Zack Bolduc has no goals and one assist.
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'The (fourth line) is a good example of what we need to do,' Montgomery said.
Meanwhile, Winnipeg broke through with some secondary scoring Wednesday. Vladislav Namestnikov, who replaced the injured Scheifele on the top line, netted his first goal of the series, giving the Jets a 4-2 lead late in the second period. Earlier, Nino Niederreiter had his first of the series.
'They had to move some guys up the lineup, shuffle the lines a bit, and a couple of them scored some goals,' Faulk said. 'We've got to do a little bit better job at our net and not let them get in tight.'
Which brings us to the last issue: the third defensive pair.
With Tyler Tucker listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, veteran Ryan Suter returned to he lineup in Game 5 and played with Nick Leddy. They were on the ice for the first two Jets goals, and Leddy was on for the fourth when Philip Broberg missed a shift after blocking a shot.
It doesn't seem likely that Tucker will be back for Game 6, so Suter and Leddy, who both played more than 15 minutes in Game 5, will have to suffice.
'We know we can play better and we know what this group is capable of,' Faulk said. 'We're excited to get back home, get the job done there and you never know. We've just got to win that one and get to Game 7.'
Added Schenn: 'At the end of the day, you turn the page, you move on and go to Game 6.'
They've been in this spot before and surprised us. Now they'll head home, where they've won 14 consecutive games, to see if they can do it again.
'Yeah, definitely,' Sundqvist said. 'We've probably had worse odds against us throughout the season. We're going to play Game 6 first and try to force a Game 7.'