Following their disastrous 4-1 series loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in the spring of 2023, former Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness blew up in his final post-game media conference of the season, citing Winnipeg's inability to push back against its opposition.
A year later, the Jets fell to Colorado four games to one, with similar issues plaguing the team.
This spring, the Jets entered the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the No. 1 club, earning the chance to play the No. 8 seed St. Louis Blues. Despite the lopsided numbers entering the best-of-seven series, it has been the Blues that have scored more goals and taken control of the opening round series.
Sure, Winnipeg pulled ahead 2-0 at home, as expected, but it was in St. Louis where old habits and memories of distant postseason failures crept back into the fold.
The Jets have a chance to change the narrative on Wednesday night - a long-lasting script that has seen every single losing postseason series end with four-straight losses (except the 2019 opening round matchup agains these same St. Louis Blues).
After falling behind 2-0, the Blues have made life difficult of the Jets, blocking the vision of Connor Hellebuyck while getting a high dose of point shots through Winnipeg's goaltender.
“They got there and they did a good job," defenceman Neal Pionk said. "They had a good mentality getting in there. We've got to find a way to push back here in Game 5.”
Pushing back will certainly be the name of the game on Wednesday. Attempting to (Helle) bu(y)ck the trend of four-straight losses will be another.
“Yeah, I think playoff time, that’s one of the most important attributes you can have, is being strong between the ears," Hellebuyck said. "You don’t want to go into a game playing with fear. If you play with fear, that’s when you start to actually make mistakes and want things back. We go out, we play our game and you continue to be better every single shift, every single game and every single day. That’s my mindset moving forward, and I’m looking forward to that."
"This is fun playoff hockey," he added. "It doesn’t matter if you lose 2-1 or 6-1. At the end of the day it’s a loss and you move on. Getting back to our game is what we want to do in here and that’s our plan for 60 minutes.”
For Hellebuyck, the last three postseasons have not been good for his numbers. The soon-to-be back-to-back Vezina Trophy winner still has a lot to prove come the playoffs.
"You don’t win 47 games and then come the playoffs switch everything up," he shared. "I know how it needs to look. I like a lot of things. I’m not going to go and make huge changes. That being said, I’m going to be better. That’s my job, and that’s the foot that I’m putting forward. I can’t be giving up this many goals. We’re a team in here, we’re not pointing fingers at anyone. We’re going to do this together. I keep saying it, we’re in a good spot. 2-2 in the series, pretty much the entire West is 2-2. I’m really looking forward to the next one. It’s on, it’s playoff style hockey."
Hellebuyck will need the support of his defence in front of him to track some of the loose pucks, as well as his forwards to limit chances coming from the Blues' point area. Leading that shut-down charge will be captain Adam Lowry and his bottom-six forward group.
"The biggest thing is we don't need to reinvent the wheel, in terms of how we play," the Jets' leader said. "When we play a certain way we've had success against the Blues, and when we get away from that, when we get out of our structure, we stop defending first, we make it easier to get to the net-front, and then you see games like that.
"All year long the strength of our team has been our team defence, our five-on-five play. It's important when we look at the game (Sunday) and review the last couple of games we see the areas where we can certainly be a lot better in. And go out and execute. You have the game plan, now it's important to go and put it into practice."
And speaking of practice, forward Gabe Vilardi has been participating in team sessions over the past week. He recently switched out his non-contact yellow sweater for a full-contact regular practice jersey and has engaged in battle drills and power play scenarios. It is expected that he will return to the Jets' lineup for Game 5. According to head coach Scott Arniel, Vilardi has been cleared to return to action.
“If he’s prepared and cleared to go, then it’s all-in.”