‘This is a different animal’: History won’t let Jets get comfortable with early lead

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This article was published 20/04/2025 (245 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The good news for the Winnipeg Jets? They’re up 1-0 in their best-of-seven series against the St. Louis by virtue of Saturday’s dramatic 5-3 comeback victory.

The bad news? They’ve been in this exact same position before over the past two springs. And despite drawing first blood against both the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche, what happened next is still a bit of an open wound around the club.

“I don’t talk about that, the last two playoff years, because this is a different animal, a different year,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said following Sunday’s optional team skate at Hockey For All Centre.

No, you don’t need to remind Arniel — an assistant coach to Rick Bowness both of those years — that Winnipeg proceeded to drop the next four straight games each time. A playoff series is all about adjustments, it’s clear the Jets weren’t able to effectively counter what their opponents threw at them while straying from their own identity.

“You can’t get to this time of year and all of a sudden decide you’re gonna play a different way,” Arniel explained.

That recent hockey history has helped form the “calluses” Arniel has often referred to during the 82-game regular season that ended with the Jets on top of the NHL standings. So is this group better prepared to handle the inevitable changes that the Blues will no doubt make starting with Monday’s Game 2 at Canada Life Centre?

“Those are all the things that we’ve been talking about, harping about for the 82 games, that when we got to this point, that we need to play that way, and we’ll have success when doing it,” said Arniel.

“That’s all part of that growth that we did over the course of the year to get us here, so that when we see something that they’re doing that we can make our adjustments and we’ll make it on the fly. That’s where our group is real good, recognizing how we need them to kind of play and make our adjustments and do those things that’ll help us have success.”

Arniel points to Game 1 as a perfect example. The Jets looked nervous and tentative in the opening period, then took over the game in the final 40 minutes. It was the Blues who ultimately couldn’t find the in-game answers and got away from what they do well.

“(Monday) will have a whole different look to it. I’m hoping that we have a better first period, that we don’t come out of the game like we did,” said Arniel. “We’ve done a real good job this year of focusing on what’s coming next, and that next game (Monday) is what we’re zooming in on.”

Blues coach Jim Montgomery told reporters Sunday he expects his team to be “significantly better” with both their energy and their execution, especially with so many young, inexperienced players in his lineup.

“We have 20- and 21-year-olds. I don’t think Winnipeg has that in their lineup. The exponential growth that they can have from game to game is really valuable to us,” he said.

“Besides that, our team is pretty veteran. We’ve got five guys that have won Cups. So, we’ve got to balance that experience with the youth and we’ve got to become the regular-season team we were in the last 26 games. We need to have that intent and purpose and the confidence starting (Monday).”

Don’t expect any lineup changes from the Jets. Sunday’s optional practice involved just a handful of regulars, although injured forward Gabe Vilardi participated in a yellow non-contact jersey for the first time as he works his way back from an upper-body injury that has cost him the past 12 games. He’d been skating the past several days on his own.

“It’s awesome, it’s great that he’s around,” said Arniel. “When I see that other jersey change colour then we’ll start talking about him.”

Following Monday’s game, there are only two playoff contests scheduled over the next eight days. That could work to the benefit of Vilardi and even Nikolaj Ehlers, who hasn’t resumed skating yet as he deals with a lower-body injury that as cost him the past three games.

Two areas the Jets will be looking to clean up are the penalty kill and faceoffs. Winnipeg surrendered two power play goals to the Blues and won just 26 of 61 draws — although one of them led directly to Kyle Connor’s game-winning goal with just 96 seconds left in regulation.

“Penalty kill, we got over-aggressive, actually. We talked about how we kill, but we got a little bit too aggressive and we kind of left some openings,” said Arniel.

Jets defenceman Dylan Samberg said Sunday he loved the sense of calm he felt despite falling behind by a goal on two different occasions (1-0, and then 3-2).

“We didn’t really have any panic, and we’re comfortable. We’ve had games like that this year that we’ve ended up winning, even if it came down to the last minute, last 30 seconds,” said Samberg.

Managing those emotions within the game is critical, especially for teams that are planning long playoff runs. It’s not always going to be sunshine and rainbows.

Speaking of emotions, it didn’t take long for the bad blood to develop, especially at the tail end of the contest once Adam Lowry’s empty-netter had sealed the deal. Two post-whistle scrums in the final minute led to 10-minute misconducts behind handed out to 10 different players, five from each team.

“It was just a playoff game. That’s always going to happen. Nothing was really said, just good playoff fun,” said forward Alex Iafallo, who got the comeback going when he tied the game with just over 10 minutes left in the third period.

Iafallo’s night officially ended with 19 seconds left to play as he was one of the skaters sent to the showers early as he drew the ire of several Blues forwards.

“That’s how it’s supposed to be. Obviously St. Louis definitely is a rival but the first game is always wild like that and it’s always fun to play in,” he said. “Every game’s going to be like that from here on out.”

Another element the Jets don’t expect to change — the benefit of home-ice advantage, which they were able to weaponize in this game. Winnipeg had dropped four of five playoff games at Canada Life Centre over the past two years, and they lost all three contests in their own backyard during a 2019 first-round defeat to the Blues.

“The crowd was amazing. The whole Whiteout was awesome,” said Iafallo. “It’s pretty fun to score those goals and just celebrate with the team and just look around at all the towels was pretty special.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg