Although he didn't have an immediate update on Mark Scheifele's condition Wednesday night, Winnipeg Jets coach Scott Arniel voiced his frustrations about the play that left him without his star center.
The Jets overcame losing their first-line center in a 5-3 win against the St. Louis Blues in Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinals. Arniel and the Jets now have a 3-2 series lead as seek to close out the Blues on Friday in St. Louis. So far, the home team has won the first five games involving the Central Division rivals.
Scheifele, with 13:51 left in the first period, had just played the puck along the half wall when he was checked by Blues captain Brayden Schenn. Replays showed Scheifele might not have seen Schenn, whose forearms looked as if they connected with the top half of Scheifele's chest.
Just as Scheifele was getting up from the hit, Schenn was surrounded by Jets forwards Brandon Tanev and Gabriel Vilardi in defense of their teammate. Schenn was assessed a two-minute minor penalty for interference and another two-minute minor for roughing. Even though the Jets had a four-minute power play, the Blues' penalty kill didn't give up a goal.
Scheifele finished the first period, with Arniel speaking to the referees before entering the dressing room for intermission. Blues coach Jim Montgomery said postgame that he believed Scheifele was injured on a hit from Blues forward Radek Faksa and not Schenn, which prompted Arniel to voice his frustrations.
"Well, I didn't know Monty got his medical degree and trying to say how our player got hurt. He's way off base and should not make that comment," Arniel told reporters. "There's some things that have been going on in this series, and that was a repeat of what we've seen before: a player leaving his feet and then hitting a player in a very unprotected spot. Like hitting him in the sense, almost blindsiding him. Not happy with how the call was made. A two-minute minor. Not even looking at it is what I was upset about.
"It is something we have talked to the league about for five games."
Scheifele didn't return for the second period and was officially ruled out to start the third. Arniel said the team would evaluate Scheifele overnight and again Thursday before determining his availability for Game 6.
"I didn't really rewatch the hit, but I think there sometimes that [Schenn] gets away with some higher hits," Jets forward Mason Appleton told reporters. "Whether he left his feet on that one or not, I can't say I saw the replay. But at the end of the day, I just hope [Scheifele's] all right."
Finishing with the NHL's best record and winning the Presidents' Trophy for the first time in franchise history created the belief that this could be the postseason that sees the Jets advance to the second round for the first time since the 2020-21 season.
The Jets catapulted to a 2-0 series lead with Scheifele playing a significant role. A four-time 30-goal scorer, Scheifele had 39 goals and a career-high 87 points in the regular season, which he parlayed into having two goals and five points in those first two games.
He was held pointless in Games 3 and 4 -- two games the Jets lost by a combined score of 12-3 before returning to Winnipeg. Returning home saw the Jets produce five goals, which is the same number they had in a Game 1 win.
Scheifele set up star winger Kyle Connor for an opening goal in the slot. The Jets took a 2-1 lead in the first period. Blues rookie forward Jimmy Snuggerud scored his second postseason goal early in the second period before goals from Dylan DeMelo and Vladislav Namestnikov doubled the Jets' lead to 4-2.
Jets captain Adam Lowry scored an empty-net goal with a little more than three minutes to go before Nathan Walker scored his second with 53 seconds left.
"That's a tough blow. He's our heart and soul. He's one of the best players on our team," Connor told Sportsnet in response to missing Scheifele for the final two periods. "He's our leader. He goes over the boards first a lot of times in the middle of the ice. It's tough but we need guys to step up, and to a man, we did that. You can see pushback we had in the second period, and we started rolling."