The overwhelming majority feel the St. Louis Blues grabbed momentum of their best-of-7 Western Conference First Round series against the Winnipeg Jets with a pivotal Game 5 set for Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN, CBC, SN, TVAS, ESPN 101.1-FM).
But with this being the lone first round series to this point that the visiting team hasn't been able to crack the code in the other's building, for the Blues to try and advance, they will have to be the ones to do it.
Forget about the 7-2 win in Game 3 and 5-1 win in Game 4. All they did was hold serve. But in the style and fashion that they won the past two games should hold some merit. Or will it?
"Both tough buildings to play in," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. "But the playoffs are just different. I’m sure everyone thought Ottawa was done. (Toronto) was up 3-0, now it’s 3-2. It looked like Vegas was going to fall down 3-1, now they’re up 3-2. It’s just every series is its own animal, it’s own journey and you’ve just got to be immersed in your own journey."
The Blues, who will host Game 6 in St. Louis on Friday, know what its journey is, and that's to attempt to be the first to crack the visiting code in this series. It won't be easy.
"Obviously, they have a good team over there," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "Really good team. They score on their opportunities. They play a really structured, tight game as well. I think just taking what was successful at home, bring it here as much as possible, and put our best game forward.
"Series are long, and lot of emotions and roller coaster things that are happening within, and it's fun to just kind of stick together as a group. And it's the best time of the year, where everybody gets to stick together. And momentum, for sure, throughout the series, throughout the game, and within games, even within periods. So the whole thing is fun. Just got to make sure we stick together."
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With defenseman Tyler Tucker sidelined with a lower-body injury that Montgomery classified on Tuesday as day to day, veteran Ryan Suter will step back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch for Games 3 and 4.
But one change the Blues will not make is Alexandre Texier, who will remain in on the third line with Oskar Sundqvist and Zack Bolduc.
Some of the character traits Montgomery has liked include, "his ability to win battles and his ability to handle pucks and make plays in all three zones, but especially in the offensive zone."
Texier has an assist, on Tucker's game-winner on Sunday, in the two games since joining the lineup.
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After each received a maintenance day from practice on Tuesday, forwards Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn were part of the morning skate and will play tonight, just as Montgomery said on Tuesday.
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud
Jake Neighbours-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou
Alexandre Texier-Oskar Sundqvist-Zack Bolduc
Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker
Cam Fowler-Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk
Ryan Suter-Nick Leddy
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Mathieu Joseph and Matthew Kessel. Dylan Holloway (lower body) and Tyler Tucker (lower body) are out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season. Black aces include Colten Ellis, Nikita Alexandrov and Corey Schueneman.
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Jets Projected Lineup:
Kyle Connor-Mark Scheifele-Gabriel Vilardi
Alex Iafallo-Vladislav Namestnikov-Cole Perfetti
Nino Niederreiter-Adam Lowry-Mason Appleton
Brandon Tanev-Morgan Barron-Jaret Anderson-Dolan
Josh Morrissey-Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg-Neal Pionk
Logan Stanley-Luke Schenn
Connor Hellebuyck will start in goal; Eric Comrie will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Chris Driedger, Dominic Toninato, David Gustafsson, Haydn Fleury, Ville Heinola and Colin Miller. Nikolaj Ehlers (lower body) and Rasmus Kupari (concussion) are out.