St Louis Blues (2-2-0) at Winnipeg Jets (2-2-0)
Venue: Canada Life Centre
Date: Tonight – Wednesday, April 30th
Time: 8:30 pm CST
TV: CBC, Sportsnet, TVAS
Radio: 680 CJOB (Winnipeg) & 101 ESPN (St. Louis)
DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Lines:
St. Louis Blues +1.5 ML +150
Winnipeg Jets -1.5 ML -180
O/U 5.5
Purchase tickets via Ticketmaster
St. Louis Blues News & Notes:
The Blues roll into a make-or-break game five after winning games three and four on home ice. The battle of being the first to three concludes tonight at Canada Life Centre as the St. Louis Blues look to take a third straight game over the Winnipeg Jets.
St. Louis will look to take the momentum of scoring 12 goals in the past two games into this game, but the Winnipeg whiteout will be standing in their way. The Blues made slight adjustments to dominate the special teams battle and push the Jets to the brink at 5-on-5.
Related: Winnipeg Jets vs St. Louis Blues Series Preview
Winnipeg Jets News & Notes:
Winnipeg gets top-line scorer Gabriel Vilardi back tonight in a crucial game to win for the Jets. The Jets are coming off two harsh defeats in St. Louis and look to rebound at home tonight.
Connor Hellebuyck said after game four that he needed to be better, and he will be on his game tonight as the Blues look for an early rally to rattle the Jets.
Nikolaj Ehlers began skating with the Jets’ strength and conditioning coach, which is a positive sign. Ehlers has been out week-to-week with a foot injury since the Chicago game on Sunday, April 12th and hasn’t been up until yesterday’s practice. Scott Arniel mentioned that Ehlers began skating in Winnipeg while the Jets were on the road and expects Ehlers to skate in a non-contact jersey with the team soon.
St. Louis Blues Projected Lines
Pavel Buchnevich – Robert Thomas – Jimmy Snuggerud
Jake Neighbours – Brayden Schenn – Jordan Kyrou
Alexandre Texier – Oskar Sundqvist – Zack Bolduc
Alexey Toropchenko – Radek Faska – Nathan Walker
Cam Fowler – Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg – Justin Faulk
Ryan Suter – Nick Leddy
Jordan Binnington
Joel Hofer
Winnipeg Jets Projected Lines
Kyle Connor – Mark Scheifele – Gabriel Vilardi
Alex Iafallo – Vladislav Namestnikov – Cole Perfetti
Nino Niederreiter – Adam Lowry – Mason Appleton
Brandon Tanev – Morgan Barron – Jaret Anderson-Dolan
Josh Morrissey – Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg – Neal Pionk
Logan Stanley – Luke Schenn
Connor Hellebuyck
Eric Comrie
Players To Watch:
St. Louis Blues
Pavel Buchnevich solidified himself as a gamer in this series with a four-point (3G, 1A) performance in game three and followed it up with a physically dominant game in game four. Buchnevich will be running around the same way tonight and looking to be a thorn in the side of the Jets in the quest for St. Louis to take a 3-2 series lead.
Jordan Binnington has been clutch for St. Louis this series. Barring any unforeseen collapse, game five will be just as close, and that’s due to Binnington’s level of play in this series. If Binnington really wanted to, he could steal tonights contest and really push the Jets’ back against the walls, but it’s never say never and Winnipeg will be swinging even harder tonight.
Winnipeg Jets
Gabriel Vilardi returning to game action for the first time since March 23rd is a storyline to watch in this game. He’ll be feeding off the Canada Life Centre crowd and will be a massive boost in morale to the Jets’ lineup. If he can score tonight, the Jets should have a lock on game five.
Connor Hellebuyck commented about being better in game five, and tonight is the night to prove it. Hellebuyck knows that it’s not only a team effort, but a collection of individual efforts if the team wants to win games one by one. Hellebuyck also noted that it’s tied 2-2 in the series, so the Jets can take a bit of a deep breath and win game five one-game-at-a-time mentality. Hellebuyck is coming off back-to-back games, letting in 11 goals and being pulled in the third period of both games. It means that tonight’s contest is his to steal.
Dylan Samberg was excellent in games one and two for the Jets, while still being relatively great in games three and four, it seemed his play faltered a bit when the Blues got on a roll. Samberg will be a crucial part of the Jets putting a stop to the surging Blues at Canada Life Centre.
Injury Report:
St. Louis Blues
C Dylan Holloway, Out – LBI, Week-to-Week
D Torey Krug – LTIR – Ankle
Winnipeg Jets
RW Nikolaj Ehlers – Out, Foot, Week-to-Week
Next game
Winnipeg Jets at St. Louis Blues, May 2nd, time TBD, at Enterprise Center
ITR 39: Conference Finals – Inside The Rink
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