The Winnipeg Jets will be without star forward Mark Scheifele for Game 6 in St. Louis on Friday.
His absence is directly related to an injury suffered on a check in Game 5 at Canada Life Centre on Wednesday night.
The 32-year-old was crunched early in the first period on a punishable hit by Brayden Schenn, who jumped into an open-ice hit, catching Scheifele without the puck in Winnipeg’s defensive zone.
“Well, clearly they’re trying to do a job on our skilled guys, and trying to make them pay a price,” Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo said on Thursday. “We’re trying to do the same too. It’s a physical series. This has been right up there with some of the most physical hockey I’ve played in the playoff series. And we knew that going in, and they’re going to continue to try to do that.”
Scheifele bounced back up rather quickly and played another seven shifts. However, he was later hit in the open ice by Blues’ forward Radek Faksa, which also knocked him down heavily to the ice.
After the game, coaches Jim Montgomery and Scott Arniel went back and forth on what caused Scheifele to miss the second and third periods, ultimately walking away undecided.
Although pleading with the NHL Department of Player Safety to look at Schenn’s high hit, Arniel had no success, and the Blues’ captain will remain in the lineup for the pivotal Game 6.
“We’ve talked to the league, like I said,” Arniel said Thursday. “We’ve been talking. There’s a supervisor that’s here every day. So they know how we feel. We’ve passed on our message and we hope that those things don’t happen. I’m not saying that we’re going out to (get) retribution. But we’ve got to win hockey games. So however that comes about, we’ve got to get it done.”
Scheifele, on the other hand, will not travel with the Jets and remains out of the lineup.
“Obviously extremely (disappointed),” Arniel added. “You’re hoping that maybe for the best, you wake up today and things are better. But right now he won’t be making trip and we’ll see, we’ll just go day-to-day, moving forward.”
Winnipeg missing star players come the postseason is not a new storyline, by any measure.
Scheifele, for instance, has missed games against Calgary alongside Patrik Laine (in 2020), sat out due to suspension in 2021 against Montreal and injured his shoulder against Vegas in 2023.
Cole Perfetti also missed the postseason in 2023 against the Golden Knights. Nikolaj Ehlers made it into just one game that year after a dirty check from Ryan Hartman near the end of the regular season, while Josh Morrissey got hurt on his first shift of Game 2 against Vegas. He sat out the rest of the series. And who could forget Morgan Barron’s nasty slice to the cheek – fortunately, he didn’t need to sit out.
Brenden Dillon and Vlad Namestnikov both missed time in the opening round against Colorado last season, giving way to Cole Perfetti, who made his playoff debut in Game 5.
As history shows, the Jets have rarely had a full lineup of regulars come playoff time since their rip to the Western Conference Final in 2018 vs. Vegas.
It appears as though that will also be the case this postseason. Already missing Ehlers until at least the second round (lower-body), Winnipeg was without Gabe Vilardi until Wednesday, who made his return to action after missing a month of time due to an upper-body injury.
“This is going to be a meat-and-potato kind of, work zone-to-zone, get out of our zone, get through that neutral zone and then make them spend some time in their end of the rink,” Arniel said of Game 6. “You know, not having Nik, not having Scheif, kind of knocks out a couple of your top six players. So this is straightforward, grind it out kind of work for, fight for every inch and get those greasy goals, a lot like we scored last night.”
Now, with Scheifele on the mend, the Jets will look to take care of business on the road for the first time this postseason, as they battle St. Louis in what could be the final test of the round. Or, the game could follow the script set over the first five games with the home team proving victorious.
Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM central time on Friday. The game can be viewed live on Sportsnet.
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