WINNIPEG — Four games into their Western Conference First Round series, and the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues each have won their respective home games.
The Jets hope that home-ice streak continues in Game 5 at Canada Life Centre on Wednesday (9:30 p.m., ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN, FDSNMW).
“It’s a big game in the sense of whoever wins it’s a 3-2 advantage and gets a chance to close the series in Game 6. That’s exactly what it is,” Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo said. “If you want to make more or less of it, I guess that’s whoever wants to have that opinion. For us, we’re just trying to go out there and win Game 5 and be the best version of ourselves we can be on the ice and see what happens.”
Home teams have 25 wins (25-12) during the Stanley Cup Playoffs so far, the most victories at this stage of the postseason (through 37 games) since 2014 (26-11).
The Blues won Games 3 and 4 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis by a combined score of 12-3. They also liked most of what they did in Games 1 and 2 in Winnipeg, and will take the ice for Game 5 wanting more of that.
“We felt we were in both games right until the bitter end in Winnipeg, and that we did not play to our identity for 60 minutes,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “We feel that if we do that, we’re going to give ourselves a real good opportunity to have success.”
When a best-of-7 series is tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner goes on to win the series 79.0 percent of the time (233-62).
Here is a breakdown of Game 5:
Blues: St. Louis wants to keep getting offensive contributions from its defensemen, who have 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in four playoff games, most in the NHL. Cam Fowler leads with eight points (one goal, seven assists) in four games; Colton Parayko (one goal, two assists) and Justin Faulk (one goal, two assists) each has three points.
Jets: Gabriel Vilardi will return after missing the final 11 games of the regular season and first four of this series because of an upper-body injury sustained March 23. His addition could help Winnipeg get its offense going again; he showed chemistry with his fellow top-line forwards, left wing Kyle Connor and center Mark Scheifele. Vilardi also should help the power play, which is 2-for-12 through four games. Vilardi had 25 power-play points during the regular season, tied for second on the Jets with Scheifele; Connor led them with 28.
Number to know: 2.29, the goals-against average for Blues goalie Jordan Binnington through four games. He’s 2-2 with a .907 save percentage.
What to look for: Will the home-team-wins trend continue in Game 5? Or do the Blues play a full 60 minutes and steal one on the road?
