Jets must ‘regroup’ following latest defeat in Game 4 of Western 1st Round

ST. LOUIS -- Mark Scheifele kept his head down for the majority of his postgame media availability, the Winnipeg Jets center searching for answers to how a great start turned into a dismal ending.

“I don’t know. They obviously got that second (goal) and then made a bad read on the third one and it ends up in the back of the net, and then it gets away from us,” Scheifele said after a 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues in Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round at Enterprise Center on Sunday. “We kind of unraveled a little bit. It’s more our doing than theirs.”

Unravelling was something the Jets rarely did during the regular season, when they went 56-22-4 and won the Presidents’ Trophy, which is awarded annually to the NHL team with the most points. They’re looking to change their Stanley Cup Playoff narrative, which has included a first-round exit in each of the past two seasons.

On Sunday, they got out to their best start of the series with their overall game, and they held a 1-0 lead when Kyle Connor scored at 13:58 of the first period. But after a 7-2 loss here in Game 3 on Thursday, Winnipeg again struggled to find goals, saves, or ways to stop St. Louis’ surges.

The best-of-7 series is tied and will shift back to Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg for Game 5 on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; CBC TVAS, SN, ESPN, FDSNMW).

“It’s a 2-2 series,” Jets defenseman Luke Schenn said. “Obviously, they're a dominant team at home, there's no question about that. They've been playing some great hockey down the stretch. At the end of the day, when you're up 2-0 in the series, there's nothing to protect.

“Maybe we sat back and thought we'd defend that a little bit. You've got to keep pushing, keep pushing.”

Certainly, Enterprise Center has been a tough place to play for the visiting team. The Blues have won 14 in a row here, their last loss a 4-3 shootout defeat to, you guessed it, the Jets on Feb. 22. They were once again opportunistic, getting bodies in front of the net and using redirects, traffic and bounces, be it off their own sticks or opposing players, to seize control.

“The first five minutes we started off really well, then we got the two penalties and they generated a lot of shots from the outside and on the power play,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought in the second they were getting to their game and we weren’t having enough [offensive]-zone time. But then I thought we started to get to our [offensive]-zone time, and I think we’re owning the net front, and our goaltender (Jordan Binnington) is making saves.”

Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck was pulled for the second consecutive game after Blues center Robert Thomas made it 5-1 at 2:01 of the third period. Hellebuyck allowed five goals on 18 shots.

After allowing at least five goals just three times in 62 regular-season starts, Hellebuyck has allowed at least five in each of his past two games of this series. Adding to that, he is 3-10 with a 4.53 goals-against average and .863 save percentage in his past 13 playoff games.

But Jets coach Scott Arniel said he’s not concerned about his No. 1 goalie.

“I'm 100 percent confident in Connor Hellebuyck,” Arniel said. “His resume speaks for itself.”

Hellebuyck is a two-time winner of the Vezina Trophy (2020, 2024), which is awarded to the League’s top goalie. He was named one of three finalists Monday (Darcy Kuemper, Los Angeles Kings; Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning) for this season and is likely to win it again after he led the NHL in wins (47), GAA (2.00) and shutouts (eight).

“At the end of the day, we need to be better in front of him,” Arniel said. “We need to let him see some pucks. There were a couple there we didn't let him see. There's things that we have to do to help him. He knows he has to do things that help us, and that's how it's been all year long.”

Luke Schenn agreed.

“I mean, he's had an unbelievable year, and you watch the replay of the goals that went in, they’re deflections, they’re screens, they’re bouncing off us and in,” he said. “(We’ve) just, obviously, got to do a better job in front of the net. Like I said, games are won and lost in the hard area, and the hard area is in front of our net, in front of their net, and we obviously got to do a much better job of that.”

It starts with Game 5 back home Wednesday.

“It’s a best 2-out-of-3 series,” Scheifele said. “We know we have home ice. We have two days to regroup and then back in front of our fans. It’s not what we wanted, but it’s a best 2-out-of-3 series now.”