After a disappointing pair of performances in St. Louis, the Winnipeg Jets returned to Winnipeg for an optional skate on Monday, where Connor Hellebuyck, Neal Pionk, Adam Lowry, and Scott Arniel spoke to the media.
The main theme from their comments was that the Winnipeg Jets aim to be a lot better in Game 5, starting with their star goaltender.
Connor Hellebuyck acknowledges that he is “going to be better”
Connor Hellebuyck spoke first with the media, acknowledging that he needs to be better in this series.
“You don’t love giving up that many goals, but we’re 2-2 in the series,” Hellebucyk said. “That’s all that matters. Win the next one.”
“Am I going to be better? I am going to be better. I’ve studied goaltending extremely hard. I’ve probably studied the most out of anyone in this world, so I know what to do, and how to get my best game.”
It’s clear that Connor Hellebuyck has not played up to his Vezina standard, and he needs to be a lot better if the Jets are to win this series. The skaters in front of him can be better, also, by clearing shot lanes and preventing deflections that seemed to be all too common against the Jets in the past two games.
Jesse Granger from The Athletic noted on X that 8/16 (50%) of the Blues’ goals in this series have come from screened shots, deflections, or both.
Neal Pionk spoke about needing to clear the front of the net better so their star goaltender can see the puck.
“The feeling is that we’ve got to do a better job in front of him,” Pionk said. “He’s the best goalie in the world, but he can’t stop what he can’t see. Like I said earlier, we’ve got to take their sticks out of the way and push them out of the way so he can see the puck.”
This strategy is incredibly reminiscent of what the Colorado Avalanche did in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and it’s one that the Jets will need to adjust to and have an answer for moving forward.
Gabriel Vilardi will be “all in” for Game 5
Gabriel Vilardi will be in the Winnipeg Jets lineup for Game 5. Scott Arniel was asked if he’s physically prepared to handle his usual workload of top line and top power play minutes, and he said that if Vilardi is playing, he is “all in.”
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
The top line of Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo has been Winnipeg’s best forward line by a considerable margin in this series. Having said that, I would be shocked if we don’t see the reuniting of Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi in Tuesday’s full team practice.
That begs the question: where does Alex Iafallo go? In my eyes, he has played too well to head back down to a reduced fourth-line role.
Assuming Nino Niederreiter slides back down to his usual role with Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton on the third line, could we see Iafallo fill the second-line role with Namestnikov and Perfetti?
Regardless of what Winnipeg’s lines look like, they’ll need to play a much stronger game on home ice in a pivotal Game 5.
“As a head coach, I’m not happy about how we got here, but we’re here,” is how Scott Arniel put it. “We’re just like everybody else in the West, we’re all tied at two. We played 82 games to get home ice advantage, and now we’re in this position. So Game 5, we need to be the best team on the ice.”
The Jets are looking to lean on past experiences
The Winnipeg Jets have not bounced back from a loss in the playoffs since 2019 against the Blues. They lost four straight to Montreal, Vegas, and Colorado in all three series losses. The team mentioned that their goal is to get back to their game for the entirety of Game 5.
“I think our goal is just get back to 60 minutes of our game,” Hellebuyck said. “We’ve shown spurts of it and we know we can do it. So it’s not like it’s just going to come out of nowhere. It’s just a matter of bringing it.”
As for the unravelling and the long stretches of unanswered goals from the Blues, Pionk acknowledged that as an area where Winnipeg will have to be much better.
“We’ve got to find a way to stop that and be better in Game 5,” Pionk said about St. Louis’ run of goals in games 3 and 4.
No player will have more pressure on them than Connor Hellebuyck, who is determined to be better moving forward.
“I’m going to be better. That’s my job, and that’s the foot that I’m putting forward. I can’t be giving up this many goals,” Hellebuyck said. “We’re a team in here, we’re not pointing fingers at anyone. We’re gonna do this together. And, I keep saying it, we’re in a good spot.”
With the series tied 2-2 heading into Game 5 on home ice, the Jets will look to bounce back from a playoff loss for the first time since 2019 at 8:30 PM from Canada Life Centre.
