‘It’s go time’

The expanded nature of the schedule, complete with three two-day breaks and a smorgasbord of start times, was a storyline heading into this best-of-seven series between the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues.

But with the extended breaks finally in the rearview mirror after Game 5, was there any advantage to be had by either team?

Going into the series, Jets head coach Scott Arniel spoke about how you’d like to keep playing if you could build a lead in the early going, for fear that the time between games might put a dent in any momentum a team could build.

After winning the first two games on home ice, the Jets went on the road and the Blues held serve to send the series back to Winnipeg all tied up.

There’s been plenty of talk about adjustments being made by the two coaching staffs, the result of having some additional time to dig into the opponent.

“Yeah, I’m sure (Blues head coach Jim Montgomery) would say he liked the two extra days there after Game 2. I’m actually OK with it after Game 4,” said Arniel. “There’s some things we got to work on, some things we got to look at. But now it’s every other night, it’s go time. It’s the next game that’s the most important one, and we’re going to take it from there.”

Jets forward Cole Perfetti was among the players who would have preferred the standard playoff schedule of having a game every other night.

“I don’t know. I personally don’t love it. I like playing,” said Perfetti. “I like getting in the flow of it, every-other-day kind of thing. But that’s now how it is so you have to adapt and get used to those two days in between.

“It’s good for rest in that aspect.”

The breaks weren’t long enough for Perfetti to get much growth on his playoff beard, which caused him to take a bit of good-natured ribbing from his teammates.

“Yeah, it doesn’t look good, that’s for sure. Hopefully it gets a lot longer,” said Perfetti. “I didn’t have much faith in myself either but it’s (been) a week and a half. I don’t love the look on me but it’s all right.”

Asked specifically about the chess match taking place between games, Montgomery wasn’t in the mood to take any credit for any tactical changes that helped his team outscore the Jets 12-3 during the two games in St. Louis.

“I’ve always said this — players win games. Coaches give a game plan and players go out and win games,” said Montgomery. “I do think, for the most part, you guys do make too much of the matchups and the X’s and O’s and adjustments. We’re not as important as you think we are.”

Montgomery did say that the Blues’ difficult road to qualify for the post-season helped harden them for moments like this.

Being stifled by the Jets in the third periods of Games 1 and 2 — where the Blues were held to a grand total of seven shots on goal and were outscored 4-0 in those 40 minutes of action — was an important step in the growth process.

“You’ve got to mature in the playoffs or else your season is over,” said Montgomery. “So I’m proud of our group for the way we’ve matured so quickly in the playoffs.”

THE REUNION: That Arniel chose to reunite Nino Niederreiter with Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton for the pivotal game was no surprise.

They were regarded as one of the best third lines in the NHL for more than half the season before injuries caused each of the players to move in and out of the lineup.

Niederreiter was needed in the top-six after injuries to Gabe Vilardi (who returned to the lineup for Game 5) and Nikolaj Ehlers (who skated in a yellow non-contact jersey with his teammates on Wednesday morning but isn’t expected to return before this series is over).

Although they’re known primarily for their work defending, Arniel reminded reporters that one of the best traits for the line is that they force the opposition to spend a lot of time in the defensive zone — which limits the damage those skilled opponents can do offensively.

“You know exactly what we demand from one another,” said Niederreiter. “We’re tenacious on the forecheck, get pucks on net. Getting to the inside, that’s something which we do extremely well. In the D-zone, we know what we are supposed to do and try to get the momentum for our team.”

PRAISE FOR MORRISSEY: Blues defenceman Colton Parayko admits he gained an appreciation for Jets blue-liner Josh Morrissey during the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.

Parayko and Morrissey were a frequent pairing and took on a lot of tough matchups during the best-on-best event that concluded with Canada capturing a gold medal.

“He’s an incredible player and a great person,” said Parayko. “We see them quite a bit during the season (in the Central Division), but when you get to play with him, you realize how good a player he really is.

“When he was dialled in, he was unreal. Some of the plays that he made, I wouldn’t even think about seeing those plays. The little things that he does stick out the most are what you appreciate as a defenceman.”

What were some of those things?

“He’s not maybe the biggest defenceman, but he plays hard and he’s hard to play against. He gets right in there and he’s aggressive,” said Parayko, who helped the Blues win the Stanley Cup in 2019 and suited up in his 87th NHL playoff game on Wednesday. “He moves the puck extremely well and has (great) vision. He sees the plays steps before they even happen.”

THE PLAYOFF DEBUT: Although having a starting goalie pulled in consecutive games is never a good thing for a team, the removal of Connor Hellebuyck in the third period of Games 3 and 4 allowed Jets backup Eric Comrie to make his Stanley Cup playoff debut.

Comrie looked comfortable between the pipes in mop-up duty, turning aside eight of the nine shots on goal that he faced.

The lone shot to beat him was a blistering one-timer off the stick of Parayko for a power-play goal.

That left Comrie with a 2.19 goals-against average and .889 save percentage in his 27:27 of work.

THE THIRD DEFENCEMAN: One of the reasons the Jets haven’t been as disruptive as usual on the forecheck during parts of the series is the excellent puck-handling of Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.

Because Binnington is active behind the net and accurate with his passes, he’s given his teammates some additional time to avoid being under pressure in the defensive zone.

Montgomery said that Binnigton’s hockey sense allows him to act like a third defenceman.

“He’s definitely been very good in this series,” said Niederreiter. “But at the same time, we didn’t do a great job keeping it away from him. He’s a good goaltender at handling the puck.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld