Schwartz now new Blues ‘Boss’

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This article was published 20/04/2019 (2332 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. LOUIS — As far as we know, there’s no plan to change the name of Wilcox, Saskatchewan to simply “Schwartz.”

But folks from the small community just south of Regina are no doubt feeling some major pride after native son Jaden Schwartz had the kind of game hockey players dream of on Saturday night, eliminating the Winnipeg Jets in the process.

Schwartz, 26, had a natural hat trick to lead his team to a 3-2 victory in Game 6, and actually scored four straight goals for the Blues going back to his Game 5 winner with just 15 seconds left to play.

“It’s nice definitely to help out and step up,” Schwartz said. “We played a great team game.

“We didn’t give them much, we worked our butts off. Our D were great. I thought our forwards backchecked really hard and frustrated them. That was the biggest game of the year for us. We played aggressive and we were on our toes,” Schwartz told reporters in the celebratory locker room.

The Blues now wait for the winner of the Dallas-Nashville series for their second-round opponent. The wildcard Stars lead the Central-division winning Predators 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Schwartz broke the hearts of Jets fans with his deflection goal at Bell MTS Place Thursday night, and there was a sense of deja vu when he beat Connor Hellebuyck only 23 seconds into Game 6 Saturday.

“He’s been going all series,” Blues defenceman Alex Pietrangelo said. “You know it was just a matter of time before things started going in for him. He’s had a lot of looks. I’ve said it to you guys before: even when he’s not scoring, he’s pretty darn effective out there. And when things start going in for him like they were tonight, boy oh boy, he’s fun to watch.”

Schwartz said he was just trying to lead by example.

“You want to have that positive mindset for sure,” Schwartz said. “The first two games at home didn’t go as planned.

“We want to be aggressive. You don’t want to sit back against these guys.

“We know it’s a long game though. We know they scored on their first shift in their building. You kind of learn as you go that you’ve got to put in a full 60 for sure.

“Whenever you can step up and help the team out, it’s nice. We’re a team that, it seems like we’ve got different guys stepping up in big ways. That’s why we’re so successful.”

Schwartz laughed when told rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington is now calling him the “Boss.”

“I think he’s been the boss the last few months,” he said.

Schwartz had a frustrating regular-season, with just 11 goals and 25 assists in 69 games. Those are the lowest totals the 2010 first-round draft pick (14th overall) has ever produced in a full season.

But he’s a proven playoff performer, now with 14 goals and 21 assists in 55 career post-season games, including four goals and an assist in the six games against the Jets this spring.

“I just was focused and ready. Obviously everybody knew how big of a game it was. When you’re on the ice, you don’t really think too much. You’re focused and you’re ready. Obviously, when you score first shift, it’s a good feeling for everyone,” Schwartz said.

“Sometimes when pucks aren’t going in, the net doesn’t seem as big. When you get a bounce or you get a break sometimes, you can just carry that over. It almost seems like the net seems bigger. I think everyone will tell you confidence in any sport is big.”

And right now the Blues have plenty of it, having gone from the basement of the NHL standings around Christmas to the second-round of the playoffs — and perhaps beyond.

“Every team’s good, really. Different nights, you’ve got to find ways to win different ways,” Schwartz said.

“We were aggressive (Saturday) and we kind of played without fear. You can tell how frustrated we made them.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg