2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Jets vs. Blues Western 1st Round preview

The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs features 16 teams in eight best-of-7 series, which start Saturday. Today, NHL.com previews the Western Conference First Round between the Winnipeg Jets and the St. Louis Blues.

(1C) Winnipeg Jets vs. (WC2) St. Louis Blues

Jets: 56-22-4, 116 points
Blues: 44-30-8, 96 points
Season series: WPG: 3-1-0; STL: 1-2-1
Game 1: Saturday at Winnipeg (6 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX, FDSNMW)

The Jets and Blues will meet in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the 2019 Western Conference First Round. The Blues won that best-of-7 series in six games and went on to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in their history.

Winnipeg lost the 2024 first round in five games to the Colorado Avalanche after finishing with 110 points. This season it won the Presidents' Trophy, awarded annually to the team that finishes with the most points in the regular season, and is hoping that success carries into the postseason.

"It's a good matchup, and it's going be huge for us to get off to a good start here at home," Jets forward Alex Iafallo said Wednesday after signing a three-year, $11 million contract ($3.67 million average annual value). "Obviously, big, big specialty team, matchup, so we got to be ready for that and keep our mindset pushing forward.

"We know [what] we're going to get. We know what we expect from ourselves, so drop of the puck, we've got to be ready to rock. And ready to succeed in every zone, pushing the puck forward and just getting on their defense."

It won't be easy against the Blues, who went on a franchise-record 12-game winning streak from March 15-April 5 to give themselves a chance at a playoff berth. They hired Jim Montgomery as coach to replace Drew Bannister on Nov. 24, when they were 9-12-1, and are back in the playoffs after a two-season absence, clinching the second wild card with a 6-1 win against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday.

"This is what you play for," Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. "This is what you train for in the summer, and this is what you play for all year, to have a chance at the Stanley Cup. Just have to get in and anything can happen. We saw that years ago and we've been on a good run here.

"At the same time, [we] just can't be happy that we're in. Winnipeg's obviously a good team and going to present a good challenge for us. I don't think anyone gave us a chance, really, at the end of the day, where we were. I'm glad we kept it together. Too many good pieces in this locker room to not get in the playoffs. We felt if we played hard for one another, we could get the job done. It just took 82 games."

Game breakers

Jets: It's been quite the season for Kyle Connor. The forward had an NHL career-high 97 points (41 goals, 56 assists) in 82 games, four more than his previous best in 2021-22. The 28-year-old also led Winnipeg with 28 power-play points. Connor is the second player in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history with multiple 40-plus goal seasons (two); Ilya Kovalchuk is first with five. The Jets have had plenty of scoring this season, but Connor has led the pack.

Blues: Is there a hotter player going into the playoffs than Robert Thomas? The forward ended the regular season on a 12-game point streak (25 points; four goals, 21 assists). That includes two four-point games (against the Montreal Canadiens on March 25 and the Colorado Avalanche on April 5). Thomas led the Blues with 81 points (21 goals, 60 assists) in 70 games.

Goaltending

Jets: Connor Hellebuyck is the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, awarded annually to the League's top goalie, and he's probably going to win it again this season. It's hard to argue otherwise. The 31-year-old is 47-12-3 with a 2.00 goals-against average, .925 save percentage and an NHL-leading eight shutouts in 63 games (62 starts). His shutouts are the most in the League since 2021-22, when Jacob Markstrom had nine with the Calgary Flames.

Blues: Jordan Binnington's numbers aren't as strong as they've been in past seasons, but he was good and keeps showing his mettle on big stages. Just look back at the 2019 Stanley Cup run or the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, when he helped Canada to the championship. The 31-year-old was 28-22-5 with a 2.69 GAA, .900 save percentage and three shutouts in 56 games (54 starts) in the regular season. He'll be up to the task in this series.

Numbers to know

Jets: Mark Scheifele has the most postseason goals in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history with 21. Connor (15) is next, and Adam Lowry is third (11).

Blues: Pavel Buchnevich became the fifth player in Blues history with four consecutive 20-goal seasons from the start of his tenure with St. Louis, joining Pierre Turgeon (five from 1996-97 to 2000-01), Doug Gilmour (five from 1983-84 to 1987-88), Jorgen Pettersson (five from 1980-81 to 1984-85) and Brendan Shanahan (four from 1991-92 to 1994-95).

They said it

"I'm happy that a lot of the things that we talked about in training camp, we accomplished. Obviously, the Presidents' Trophy wasn't one of them that we talked about but I'm really proud to be a part of this team. We're still going to be judged on what happens from Game 83 on. There's still lots to happen and hopefully there's a long story to go with that and it gets to be a 2 1/2-month long story." -- Jets coach Scott Arniel on their season

"I thought as soon as I coached the first game against the (New York) Rangers (a 5-2 win at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 25). I saw how much depth of talent was here. I thought, if we can get to the right places in our habits and our game management, that we'd be able to do this. But like I've said all along, it took longer than I expected." -- Montgomery on the Blues making the playoffs

Will win if …

Jets: They keep the regular-season mindset. OK, that's hard to do when you face elimination in a best-of-7 series, but they have to approach this round with the same confidence and attitude they did throughout the season. They can be motivated by last season's early postseason exit but not consumed by it. The Jets have a whole lot going for them. They'll have the "Winnipeg Whiteout" greeting them at home, starting with Games 1 and 2, and they need to take advantage of it.

Blues: They stick with the game they've played since February. The Blues entered the 4 Nations Face-Off eight points out of a playoff spot. They went 19-4-3 out of the break and didn't look back. The Blues are physical and are playing as a strong, collective group. They just need to shore up their 27th-ranked penalty kill (74.2 percent) that will face the top power play in the League (28.9 percent).

How they look

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

Colin Miller -- Luke Schenn

Connor Hellebuyck

Eric Comrie

Scratched: Ville Heinola, Haydn Fleury, Logan Stanley, Dominic Toninato

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

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: Tyler Tucker, Dalibor Dvorsky, Matthew Kessel, Alexandre Texier

Injured: Dylan Holloway (lower body)

NHL.com independent correspondent Darrin Bauming contributed to this report