Jets-Blues Series Preview

1C Winnipeg vs ST.Louis 2WC

We are back with another Playoff preview here on the ETEH Blog, so today we are looking at the 4th Series that was locked in the Western Conference playoff picture, as we're going to be looking at a intriguing first round series between the best team in the NHL in Winnipeg who won the President Trophy for the first time this year and shocked a lot of people by winning the West, and they take on a surprising team in their own right in St.Louis who had to go on a 12 game winning streak to surpass teams ahead of them and barely lock up WC2 on the 3rd final day of the season. 

History of Rivalry Between teams in playoffs:

Now when it comes to the Blues and Jets meeting in the playoffs the list is actually quite short as they have only meet once in each teams franchises history and that was all the way back in 2019 as after doing what a lot thought impossible the Blues came from last in the West to make the playoffs as 3rd in the Central and played the Jets in round 1 and even though the Jets hosted, the Blues took them down in their only ever playoff meeting in 6 games 4-2 en route to their 1st Cup win in franchise history back in 2019, so the Blues have won the only meeting before this year so it will be interesting to see if the Blues remain undefeated against the Jets in the postseason or if Winnipeg levels the series.

Season Series Record: 

Winnipeg 3-1-0 11-10+1

St.Louis 1-2-1 10-11-1

Jeff Curry Imagn Images

Each teams X-Factors: Holloway vs Hellebuyck 

Next we go over to the two teams X-Factors in my opinion for this series and the two X-Factors in my eyes are Blues forward and offer sheet player from last year Dylan Holloway and Jets Vezina winning goalie Connor Hellebuyck, now for the Blues one of the biggest surprises this year has been the growth of Dylan Holloway who was signed to a 2 year offer sheet from Edmonton in the offseason but has broke out and nearly had a point per game campaign this year, now he is currently injured and may miss the start of the series, but if he is healthy and he plays like he did in the regular season then I feel that may give the Blues the advantage to beat the Jets in this series, whereas for the Jets side their X-Factor is obviously Hellebuyck, now last year he won the Vezina and looked poised in the regular season but then had Colorado walk all over him in RD1, this year he has put up Vezina level numbers yet again so his playoff play I feel will either make or brake this series for the Jets because if he plays like he did in the playoffs last year then it might be another one and done, but if he plays like he did in the Regular Season this may wind up being a short series.

Which teams are best at 3 Positions:

Offense: now when it comes to which team has the better forward group, I think I am going to go with the President Trophy Winners to give the forward advantage, because the Blues did have some decent point scorers on their team with their top guys and even guys like Schenn, Holloway and Neighbours chipped in with secondary scoring, but the Jets were one of the best offensive teams this year and top to bottom can roll 4 lines so I would give the Jets the edge offensively.

Defence: now on the blueline it is pretty close because I feel like both teams have pretty dang good blueliners that make up a solid defence, however I do think that the Jets after adding Schenn at the deadline to a D-Corp that already has Pionk and Morrissey just made it that much more lethal and even though the Blues are relatively healthy on the backend, I am going to give the Jets the slight advantage on the blueline.

Jerome Miron Imagn Images

Goaltending: and in Net I feel like the advantage is pretty cut and dry, while I will say Binnington has had a solid bounce back season and really taken back the reigns in Net for St.Louis, however Hellebuyck has just had his second straight Vezina level year and is looking like a brick wall in Net so even though Binnington has been good this year, I am giving the Vezina favourite and Winnipeg the edge in Net.

Biggest on Ice Matchup: Jets bottom six vs Blues bottom six.

Now when it comes to the biggest on ice matchup in this 1vsWC series I would have to say it is the battle of bottom sixes, now we know both teams have lethal top 6 forward groups that came basically scored at will, decent defences and two stellar goalies who can stop just about anything, but I feel the series may be swayed by which teams bottom six is able to produce better. Now the Blues have gotten some decent scoring from their bottom six with guys like Holloway, Texier and Faksa amongst others and it has been a big reason as to why they are in the playoffs, but the Jets have maybe one of the best bottom sixes in the NHL with Lowry, Niederriter and Appleton on line 3 and now having guys like Barron, Iafallo and newly acquired Tanev on line 4, so all in all I expect both bottom sizes to chip in for this series but whichever side has more bottom six goals I like to come out of this series.

Predictions:

Now when it comes to my predictions for this series I am a little weary of picking against the Blues given how well they did as the underdog the only other time these two teams played in the postseason, but after what has been a stellar season start to finish resulting in the President Trophy, I am going to go with the Jets, the Jets have been a force to be reckon with all season long as they have a top to bottom good offense, pretty solid D and one of the best goalies in the world, and while I do think at some point the president trophy curse will catch up to them, I highly doive it will be in round 1 and while the Blues had a stellar run, winning 12 straight to make the playoffs and narrowly edge out Calgary, I just think they got too good of a opponent and in what will be a 6 game series, the Jets will level the playoff series at 1 apiece by beating St.Louis.