Blues return to Winnipeg looking for elusive road win in Game 5 of Western 1st Round

ST. LOUIS -- Jim Montgomery talked of the confidence the St. Louis Blues had coming back home early last week, despite being down 2-0 to the Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference First Round.

"I think we held a majority of the lead both games in Winnipeg, so we felt we played well," Montgomery, the Blues coach, said after 5-1 win in Game 4 at Enterprise Center on Sunday that tied the best-of-7 series. "But we didn't feel we played to our identity for 60 minutes. So, it gave us confidence that we were able to play for 60 minutes, then we'd have success.

"It's a 2-out-of-3 [series] now. Both teams won on home ice. Now we have to go to Winnipeg and try to win one on the road."

The Blues will have to win at least once on the road to advance. They'll get their first chance in Game 5 at Canada Life Centre on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN, FDSNMW). The series shifts back to Winnipeg after St. Louis won its two home games by a 12-3 margin.

It had everyone get involved in the offense, something that will need to continue in Winnipeg. Ten Blues have at least two points in the series. Three of their defensemen have three points; Cam Fowler leads St. Louis with eight (one goal, seven assists) in four games.

"That's what we try to do," Blues defenseman Justin Faulk said after scoring his first goal of the postseason Sunday. "We've got a lot of [defensemen] that can skate and play, shoot pucks, make passes, whatever, guys that have played in the League a long time. It's an emphasis of ours to make sure we're skating and doing our part to help out and create offense as much as we can."

They're also getting inside more, getting to the net and Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy on Monday after winning the award as the League's top goalie last season. St. Louis chased Hellebuyck in Games 3 and 4.

"I think it's just the mindset, the attitude to do it," Blues forward Jake Neighbours said. "It's hard, it's not easy and it's not a fun place to go, but it can be rewarding as we've seen the last couple of games.

"It's just as simple as that. It's just an attitude and a willingness to go there, get there and you know you're going to create space for others around you, create traffic for shots and things like that. So, it's just a very necessary part of the [offensive] zone that we've done a really good job on the last two."

Meanwhile, in recent years, once the Jets have lost a game in a Stanley Cup Playoff series, they haven't been able to reverse the trend. Last season, they defeated the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of the first round, then lost four in a row and were eliminated. The same happened in 2023 against the Vegas Golden Knights. In 2021, they were swept in the Stanley Cup Second Round by the Montreal Canadiens (due to realignment because of COVID-19, both were in the North Division).

But Winnipeg is confident it can get back control of the series.

"We have got two days," Jets center Mark Scheifele said. "We've had a lot of time between games. It's tough to get in the rhythm of things, but we've got two days and get back in front of our home fans and get excited for that."

Like Montgomery said, the Blues didn't win in Winnipeg, but they played well. The big difference was the Jets were better in the third period, when they outscored the Blues 4-0. They didn't have the same issue at home. When they had a lead in Games 3 and 4, they didn't pull back, didn't rest on the advantage. They kept pushing.

The Blues got exactly what they needed at home. Now to play that same game in Winnipeg.

"Obviously two good home games for our group. For our group now, it's a best-of-3, we've just got to hit the reset button," St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko said.

"I think just take the positives. There are obviously some things we can work on always, look at what we can improve on, and continue to get better. They're going to come out hard at home. They're a really good team in general, so for us, we've just got to reset and make sure we're ready for Game 5."