The Winnipeg Jets will play the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Winnipeg (55-22-4) will have home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series after winning the Presidents’ Trophy as the team with the best regular-season record in the NHL. The Blues (44-30-8) clinched the second wild card from the West with a 6-1 win in their regular-season finale against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday.
This is the second time the two teams will meet in the playoffs. St. Louis defeated Winnipeg in six games in the first round in 2019 en route to winning its first Stanley Cup championship.
The original Winnipeg Jets franchise, which competed in the NHL from 1979-1996, also played St. Louis once in the postseason, losing in four games in the best-of-5 division semifinals in 1982.
Left wing Kyle Connor leads the Jets with an NHL career-high 96 points (41 goals, 55 assists) in 81 games, and center Mark Scheifele is second with an NHL career-high 86 points (38 goals, 48 assists) in 81 games. Center Cole Perfetti also has an NHL career-high 49 points (18 goals, 31 assists) in 81 games this season.
Nikolaj Ehlers, who is third on the team with 63 points (24 goals, 39 assists) in 69 games, is week to week with a lower-body injury. Gabriel Vilardi, who has an NHL career-high 61 points (27 goals, 34 assists) in 71 games, is day to day with an upper-body injury.
Connor Hellebuyck leads the NHL in wins (46-12-3), save percentage (.924) and shutouts (eight), and is tied for first in goals-against average (2.02, minimum 15 games) and games played (62). Eric Comrie went 9-10-1 with a 2.39 GAA, .914 save percentage and two shutouts in 20 starts.
Center Robert Thomas led the Blues this season with 81 points (21 goals, 60 assists) in 70 games. Right wing Jordan Kyrou led the team in goals (36) and was second in points (70) in 82 games, and left wing Dylan Holloway was third in scoring with an NHL career-high 63 points (26 goals, 37 assists) in 77 games.
Jordan Binnington was 28-22-5 with a 2.69 GAA, .900 save percentage and three shutouts in 56 games (54 starts). Joel Hofer was 16-8-3 with a 2.64 GAA, .904 save percentage and one shutout in 31 games (28 starts).
The Jets won three of the four games against the Blues this season. They won both games in St. Louis, winning 3-2 on Oct. 22 and 4-3 in a shootout on Feb. 22, as well as earning a 4-1 victory at home on April 7. St. Louis won 4-1 in Winnipeg on Dec. 3.
Perfetti led the Jets with five assists in those four games, and Scheifele and Connor each had a goal and two assists. Hellebuyck went 2-1-0 with a 2.02 GAA and .920 save percentage in three games, and Comrie made 21 saves in the 4-3 shootout win on Feb. 22.
Thomas led the Blues with eight points (three goals, five assists) in the four games against the Jets. Pavel Buchnevich had four points (two goals, two assists) in three games, and Kyrou had three points (two goals, one assist) in four games.
Hofer went 1-1-1 with a 1.97 GAA and .921 save percentage in three games, and Binnington, who is expected to be St. Louis' starter, made 21 saves in the 3-2 loss on Oct. 22.
Winnipeg has lost in the first round in each of the past two seasons. It lost in five games to the Colorado Avalanche last season and in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023.
St. Louis is making its first postseason appearance since 2022, when it lost in six games to the Avalanche in the second round.
