Jets’ comeback victory marred by hit on Scheifele

Scott Arniel had a clear message to send, and the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets wasn’t holding back.

His team had just won a pivotal Game 5 in this best-of-seven slugfest with the St. Louis Blues, and as proud as he was with the effort that led to the 5-3 victory on Wednesday at Canada Life Centre, Arniel had an issue with the hit that knocked star centre Mark Scheifele out of the game.

He also took umbrage at a suggestion from St. Louis Blues head coach Jim Montgomery that Scheifele’s injury was a result of a hard check from Radek Faksa with 2:58 to go in the first period at the offensive blue line, not the jarring hit from Blues captain Brayden Schenn that took place 6:12 into the contest.

“Let’s make it clear: 55 got hurt from the Faksa hit,” said Montgomery. “He played six minutes after the Schenn hit. He didn’t come back after he got rocked by Faksa.”

A quick look at the shift chart showed that Scheifele actually did take one more 50-second shift in the final minute of the first period, but didn’t come out for the second and was lost for the remainder of the game.

Arniel came out spitting fire as his post-game presser progressed.

“Well, I didn’t know Monty got his medical degree, trying to say how our player got hurt. He’s way off base,” said Arniel. “He should not make that comment.”

Arniel’s blood was boiling and he was just getting started.

“There’s some things that have been going on in this series and that was a repeat of what we’ve seen before,” said Arniel. “A player leaving his feet and then hitting a player in a very unprotected spot. Hitting him in the sense of almost blindsiding him.

“I’m not happy with how the call was made. A two-minute minor. Not even looking at it is what I was upset about. And it is something that we have talked to the league about for five games.”

Asked to expand on what those conversations with the league entailed, Arniel didn’t go into much detail.

“I think I have to keep that one to myself, to us,” he said. “We communicate after every game. There’s some things that happened and I’m sure that St. Louis has some things that they’re complaining about, but there’s things that… we’ve noticed that have been going on since Game 1. And that hit is a lot of what we’ve been talking about.”

A little extra spice between coaches is always welcome at this time of year, especially when it’s a Central Division rivalry.

There has been a high physical toll paid by both teams in this series, as almost every available check has been finished by both sides.

Battling through the brutality is part of playoff hockey and the Jets have been doling out plenty of their own.

Schenn was given a minor for interference for his hit on Scheifele, though it seems clear Arniel felt that charging should have been the call and a major should have at least been considered during a review.

Arniel gave an update on the situation prior to flying to Missouri on Thursday that Scheifele wouldn’t accompany the club on the road trip — though he would neither confirm nor deny whether the Jets’ pivot was in concussion protocol.

“I’m not going down that road,” said Arniel.

The Jets are already without winger Nikolaj Ehlers, who will be on the trip but won’t be ready to return for Game 6.

Arniel wasn’t ready to reveal if it would be David Gustafsson or Rasmus Kupari who draws into the lineup on Friday.

Even after pushing the Blues to the brink of elimination with their most complete effort of this post-season, the loss of Scheifele for any length of time would have serious implications for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

But the Jets aren’t about to get ahead of themselves, so we won’t, either.

In the short term, the Jets got a bunch of impressive individual performances throughout the lineup, including the best game of the series from Vladislav Namestnikov, who was promoted to the top line with Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi.

Namestnikov snapped a 20-game drought to deliver the game-winning goal for what was the most important goal of his Jets career since he was acquired from the San Jose Sharks for a fourth-round draft pick on March 1, 2023.

He also embraced the opportunity to go up against the Blues’ top-line centre Robert Thomas.

Trading for Namestnikov was one of those under-the-radar deals made by Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff that was part of making his team harder to play against.

He’s versatile, he plays hard and does a lot of the little things extremely well.

On a night that featured plenty of names on the marquee, Namestnikov’s marker was a memorable one and he nearly added a second on a two-on-one rush before his shot somehow trickled through the crease after he walked around Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.

“Vlad is such a smart player that you can kind of plug and play him anywhere,” said Jets right-winger Mason Appleton, who chipped in three assists himself to lead the secondary scoring barrage. “But when you change lines in the middle of a playoff game, it’s not the easiest task.”

Neither is having to play without a top-line centre who produced a career-high 87 points in 82 regular-season games and had two goals and six points in this series before he was sidelined.

“It’s hard losing your best player, but at the same time we’ve dealt with this all year with injuries, so it’s the next-man mentality,” said Namestnikov. “Guys stepped up.”

With Scheifele likely out for at least Friday, it will be incumbent on Namestnikov, Adam Lowry, Morgan Barron and either David Gustafsson or Rasmus Kupari to shoulder the load down the middle.

Keeping the secondary scoring flowing will be essential for the Jets to secure one more victory to advance to the second round and to send the Blues packing.

“It’s not one guy that needs to fill the shoes of Mark,” said Connor, who scored a goal and had two assists. “It needs to be everybody.”

Delivering the knockout punch won’t be easy, as the Blues are riding a 14-game home winning streak.

But the Jets did an incredible job of disrupting the rhythm of an opponent that had struck for 12 goals in a pair of blowout victories over them at Enterprise Center.

The score said it was only a two-goal victory on Wednesday, but the Jets dominated the second period and carried the flow of play before a garbage time rebound goal from Nathan Walker tightened things up.

Where things go from here could be a defining moment for many members of the Jets’ core group.

By stemming the tide, the Jets followed a playoff loss with a win for the first time since Game 2 of the qualifying round against the Calgary Flames back in 2020.

For as much as the Jets have said they don’t care about what’s happened in the past, this was another example of this edition of the team pushing the envelope and rewriting history.

In order to pen the next chapter, another determined effort — or two, if the series goes the distance — is going to be required.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld