Blues at Jets, Western Conference 1st Round Game 1 preview

WINNIPEG -- The Winnipeg Jets were the hottest team throughout the regular season. Now they’ll face the St. Louis Blues, the hottest team down the stretch, in the Western Conference First Round.

Game 1 is at Canada Life Centre on Saturday (6 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX, FDSNMW).

The Jets won three of the four regular-season games against the Blues. Winnipeg also won 15 of their first 16 games overall en route to winning the Presidents’ Trophy, awarded annually to the team that finishes with the most points in the regular season.

The Blues, meanwhile, went on a 12-game winning streak from March 15-April 5 and earned a playoff berth with a win in their regular-season finale, a 6-1 victory against the Utah Hockey Club.

Here is a breakdown of Game 1:

Blues: Robert Thomas is ready to play in Game 1 after leaving in the third period of the Blues’ final regular-season game with a lower-body injury. That’s great news for St. Louis since Thomas led the team in scoring with 81 points (21 goals, 60 assists) in 70 games. Thomas has done well against the Jets in his career, with 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 19 regular-season games.

Jets: Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor had outstanding regular seasons for Winnipeg. Scheifele now has the most goals in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history with 336. Connor had 97 points (41 goals, 56 assists), the third-most in a season in Jets/Thrashers history, behind Marian Hossa (100 in 2006-07) and Ilya Kovalchuk (98 in 2005-06). Not surprisingly, these two led the Jets last postseason: Scheifele had six points (two goals, four assists) in five games while Connor had five (three goals, two assists).

Number to know: 2.32. Goals allowed per game by the Jets, the fewest in the NHL this season. The Los Angeles Kings were second in allowing 2.48 per game.

What to look for: How do the Jets respond to the raucous home atmosphere awaiting them in Game 1? How can the Blues take the crowd out of it as quickly as possible?

What they are saying

“Nothing’s going to be for free out there. It’s going to be real tight. You have to work for every inch of space you want out there. It’s going to be tight-checking. We know that and we expect that. I think when you go into it expecting those things, it’s a little bit easier not to get frustrated because you know it’s coming. We understand how hard it’s going to be to get there and create offense, and we’re ready for that.” -- Blues forward Jake Neighbours

“At the start of the year, the goal is to make the playoffs, and we've accomplished that goal and we're on to the next thing. The Blues are one of the hottest teams in the League and had an incredible run down the stretch to get in. We're looking forward to the challenge. We're looking forward to everything that comes along with the playoffs. That atmosphere, the emotion, the pressure. We're really excited about this group and really excited to get things underway on Saturday.” -- Jets center Adam Lowry

Blues projected lineup

Jake Neighbours -- Robert Thomas -- Pavel Buchnevich

Jimmy Snuggerud -- Brayden Schenn -- Jordan Kyrou

Mathieu Joseph -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Zack Bolduc

Alexey Toropchenko -- Radek Faksa -- Nathan Walker

Cam Fowler -- Colton Parayko

Philip Broberg -- Justin Faulk

Ryan Suter -- Nick Leddy

Jordan Binnington

Joel Hofer

Scratched: Alexandre Texier, Tyler Tucker, Matthew Kessel

Injured: Dylan Holloway (lower body)

Jets projected lineup

Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Alex Iafallo

Nino Niederreiter -- Vladislav Namestnikov -- Cole Perfetti

Brandon Tanev -- Adam Lowry -- Mason Appleton

David Gustafsson -- Morgan Barron -- Jaret Anderson-Dolan

Josh Morrissey -- Dylan DeMelo

Dylan Samberg -- Neal Pionk

Logan Stanley -- Luke Schenn

Connor Hellebuyck

Eric Comrie

Scratched: Dominic Toninato, Haydn Fleury, Colin Miller, Ville Heinola

Injured: Nikolaj Ehlers (lower body), Gabriel Vilardi (upper body), Rasmus Kupari (concussion)

Status report

Neither the Jets nor Blues held a morning skate. … Vilardi, a forward, skated on Friday and will skate again on Saturday. He is day to day. … Blues coach Jim Montgomery wasn’t sure if Holloway, a forward, was traveling for Game 1.