Road-ice advantage

Road, sweet road?

They may not enjoy the same creature comforts of home, but the Winnipeg Jets have proven they can pack up their winning formula along with their toothbrush and other travel accessories and continue to enjoy success when skating in enemy territory this season.

A league-leading, franchise-record 26 wins occurred outside of Canada Life Centre. They’ll be looking to add to that total Thursday night as they visit the St. Louis Blues for Game 3 of the best-of-seven playoff series.

“We try not to change how we play. I would like to think that how we play at home is how we play on the road,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said Wednesday following a full team practice in downtown Winnipeg, where the Jets took Games 1 and 2 by scores of 5-3 and 2-1.

“There isn’t two different ways to play as we are pretty consistent on how we go out and attack the opposition and how we defend. So, I think it is just as simple as that.”

It’s no secret that the Jets have one of the toughest travel schedules every year in the NHL given their location, which requires plenty of extra air miles compared to the majority of their rivals. Staying true to their systems and structure under less-than-ideal circumstances is a huge reason they finished on top of the league standings.

“I think it’s the depth of our lineup,” Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey said of seemingly having road-ice advantage.

“When you go on the road, sometimes it’s easier to just simplify your game, and I think that’s something we’ve done a good job of. Playoffs, we’re gonna have to continue to try to do the same things that made us successful on the road this year.”

Beating the Blues in their own backyard won’t be easy, although the Jets did it twice during the regular season. Does that give them a bit of a psychological edge?

“I think it goes out the window. It’s a new animal,” said Jets forward Mark Scheifele, who leads all Jets players with five points (two goals, three assists) through five games.

“Especially come playoffs, we know their fans are going to be rowdy and loud and excited as well as their players. It really doesn’t come into effect, the previous stuff. We’re just ready to get playing again and hopefully get some wins down there.”

St. Louis reeled off 12 straight victories inside Enterprise Center to close out the campaign. Their last loss occurred on Feb. 22 — against Winnipeg in the form of a 4-3 shootout decision.

“It’s playoffs now. We have to start a win streak in the playoffs,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery told reporters Wednesday.

St. Louis was actually a pretty lousy home team when the Jets paid that last visit right after the 4 Nations Face-Off, falling to 12-14-3 that night. But the incredible run they’d go on propelled them into the final Western Conference wild card spot and a first-round date with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Jets.

“They did their job at their home. Now it’s our turn to do our job here in front of our fans,” said St. Louis forward Zack Bolduc.

“I hope it will be like usual lately, like (the) last two months,” added veteran winger Pavel Buchnevich. It will be an amazing crowd, going hard when you make the hits. It brings energy to the building and everybody pumped up, goose bumps and stuff.”

One of the things to watch for is how Montgomery might handle matchups now that he has the last change. The Jets have been playing Scheifele’s line against the trio of Buchnevich, Robert Thomas and Jimmy Snuggerud. Adam Lowry’s shutdown trio was then deployed at home against Brayden Schenn, Jake Neighbours and Jordan Kyrou.

It’s safe to say that, so far, Winnipeg has the edge. St. Louis has scored just one five-on-five goal so far, which came off the stick of fourth-line centre Oskar Sundqvist. Regardless of whether the Blues try to switch things up, Scheifele said he welcomes the challenge on both an individual and team level.

“You don’t have last change, so you just go out and play against whoever you’re playing against and do what you can. I think our whole squad, top to bottom, has done a great job at that,” he said.

“This is what we play for. You play 82 games to get to the post-season. It’s definitely not hard to get excited for these games. It’s been a good start. I just want to keep it going. It’s going to be a tough test going to their building, we know they’re going to be ready. It’s going to be another tough test. We’re just excited to get there and put our best foot forward.”

This is the second-ever playoff meeting between these Central Division rivals. Back in 2019, St. Louis opened the series by grabbing the first two games in Winnipeg, while the Jets responded by taking Games 3 and 4 on the road. The Blues grabbed a third win at Canada Life Centre in Game 5, then won the series at home in Game 6.

“That 2019 series is a long time ago. And obviously this season, as everyone always says, what happens in the regular season ends when the regular season ends,” said Morrissey.

“So we’re just focused on going into St Louis to bring our best road game and continue to build on some things we’ve done well and some things we can do better.”

Game 4 will be held Sunday afternoon in St. Louis.

“Maybe down two, but they got their two in their barn and now it’s our turn to do our job at home,” said Neighbours.

“We’re excited for that opportunity to play in front of our fans, first playoff game in over three years. Fans are going to be excited, we’re excited to play in front of them. We believe this series is long from over.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg