Philip Broberg (6) and the St. Louis Blues feel like they can win the first road game of the series in Game 5 against Mark Scheifele (right) and the Winnipeg Jets. (James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images)MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Now that the St. Louis Blues have wrestled away momentum in their Western Conference First Round series against the Winnipeg Jets by winning Games 3 and 4 on home ice and tying the best-of-7 series at 2-2, it’s time to take that confidence on the road.
The home team has held serve in each game thus far, but the Blues, who lost Game 1 5-3 when they led halfway through the third period, and Game 2 2-1 when it was tied going into the third period, feel like they could have won one, if not both games on the road after blasting the Jets twice, 7-2 in Game 3 and 5-1 in Game 4, on home ice.
“We won our two at home and we felt like we were in both there, had leads at one point in (one) of those games, so we’re comfortable with that,” Blues forward Jake Neighbours said. “We know how we stack up against these guys. We’re confident that we stack up well against them. We almost got one our first trip there and we knew we had to win there eventually if we’re going to win this series so hopefully do it tomorrow.”
The storylines coming off the past two games is how Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who is the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy and will be in the conversation for the Hart Trophy, has been pulled from each game – the first time he’s been pulled this season – allowing 11 goals combined in doing so and how the Blues have managed to be able to accomplish what they’ve set out to do: win the battle of the net fronts.
“It’s going to be tough, especially with the last two games seeing a lot of goals go in from our D-men and shots from the point and creating offense that way,” Neighbours said. “It’s definitely something they’re going to look to adjust to and for us, nothing really changes. We actually believe we can do a better job there, even better than we did in Games 3 and 4. So for us, the mindset stays the same. We continue to try to get to the paint, get in his eyes and create chaos in the O-zone. Our D have been doing a good job of getting pucks through, putting them on net or off the end wall and creating chaos around the net. That mindset isn’t really changing.”
What will change is the Blues’ luxury of having that last line change on home ice, something the Jets will try and exploit now, especially with Gabriel Vilardi, who has missed the past month with an upper-body injury, returning to the lineup.
“It’s advantageous,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “Every time there’s a whistle, you can get your matchup. Even between whistles, if they’re coming every three minutes, the matchups are set by the home team. It’s obviously hard, and you’ve got to ask your players to dig in and win whatever battle they have in front of them.
“If (Jets coach) Scott Arniel wants those same matchups, then it’s easily transferable. If he doesn’t, no.”
The Blues were able to get the line with Neighbours, Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou out against the Jets line with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor a lot on home ice, and the Blues outscored that line 3-0 at even strength at home but were outscored 3-0 in the first two games in the same situation.
“It helps, obviously, that’s the advantage you get of being the home team,” Neighbours said. “Against their top line, their top players, getting ‘Tommer’ out there against them, ‘Fowls’, Parayko, obviously, that’s hard on a top line. Those guys take away a lot of time and space and they’re also very good offensively, so you have to worry about that as well. For the most part, ‘Tommer’ is playing against Scheifele a lot and in Winnipeg as well and the matchups are going to be pretty similar, so we feel pretty good about where we’re at.”
What the Schenn line has done when out against that line is put bodies on them, which has made a noticeable difference.
“We feel even though we’re the second line we can play against the other team’s top line,” Neighbours said. “Me and ‘Schenner’ play hard and physical and play tight, we’re all very connected. The three of us, I think we’ve grown chemistry over the last little bit this season playing together and it’s fun. ‘Rouzy’ has that threat with his speed and Holloway’s handling the puck and controlling and dictating the play, so we love that challenge. We feel we can stack up well against them as well.”
Regardless of the circumstances, the Blues feel good about being the first team in this series to win on the road, unlike when these teams six years ago, the road team won five of the six games.
“Yeah, I think this group has believed in (ourselves) the whole year,” Blues defenseman Philip Broberg said. “We’ve just got to keep building our game and bring that to Game 5.”