WINNIPEG -- Mark Scheifele will not play for the Winnipeg Jets in Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Friday (8:00 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).
"He won’t be coming on the trip," coach Scott Arniel said Thursday before the Jets boarded their flight to St. Louis. "Extremely [disappointing]. You’re hoping maybe for the best, wake up today, things are better. But right now he won't be making trip and we'll see, we'll just go day to day moving forward."
Scheifele took a couple of big hits during the first period of the Jets’ 5-3 win in Game 5 on Wednesday, including one from Blues captain Brayden Schenn along the boards at 6:12 where Schenn was called for interference, and another open-ice hit from Blues forward Radek Faksa at the St. Louis blue line at 17:02. Scheifele remained in the game for the remainder of the period, playing 8:05 with one assist. He did not come out for the second period.
"Certainly not having him is going to be huge," Arniel said. "But at the end of the day, last night our three centermen had to step up and play big minutes, did a great job, [Adam Lowry, Vladislav Namestnikov, Morgan Barron]. We'll throw another centerman in here for tomorrow and take away a little bit of that workload.
"But you know what, I'm so proud of the group, how everybody stepped up. That's kind of what our team has done all year, that when guys go down, other guys step in. And it's going to be just as large tomorrow. We did the job last night, now we've got to turn around and do it again."
Namestnikov took Scheifele’s place on Winnipeg’s top line as well as the Jets’ first power-play unit and had a goal and an assist during the second period.
Asked if Scheifele was in concussion protocol, Arniel was short, “I'm not going down that road.”
Scheifele, 32, has six points (two goals, four assists) in five Stanley Cup Playoff games, and had 87 points (39 goals, 48 assists) in 82 regular-season games, second on the Jets behind Kyle Connor, who had 97 points (41 goals, 56 assists).
“This is going to be a meat-and-potato kind of work zone-to-zone [game],” Arniel said. "Get out of our zone, get through that neutral zone and then make them spend some time in their end of the rink. You know, not having Nic [Ehlers], not having ‘Scheif,’ kind of knocks out a couple of your top-six players. So this is straightforward, grind it out kind of work for, fight for every inch and get those greasy goals, a lot like we scored last night.”
The Jets lead the best-of-7 series 3-2 after losing Game 3 and Game 4 in St. Louis. They are trying to reach the second round for the first time since the 2020-21 season.
"Emotions are high," Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo said Thursday. "Obviously, when Scheif’s out of the game, it's a huge void, no doubt about it. Fantastic player, does just so much for our group, offensively and defensively but you saw guys step up yesterday, and that's what we've been preaching all year, is our depth and guys stepping up, more ice time, different roles, whatever it may be. And I think everybody collectively stepped up and did a great job yesterday."
