Scheifele injury turns up heat as Jets, Blues head to Game 6
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Tensions between the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues have reached a new level after Jets star Mark Scheifele was injured in Game 5.
Scheifele left the Jets' 5-3 win on Wednesday after two taking two big hits in the first period. The first was delivered 6:12 into the game by Blues captain Brayden Schenn, who received a minor penalty for interference, and the second came from Radek Faksa while Scheifele was entering the offensive zone late in the first period.
Schenn was called for interference on his hit and also picked up a roughing minor along with Jets forward Brandon Tanev in the ensuing scrum. Andy Strickland of FanDuel Sports reports no supplemental is expected to follow from the incident.
The hostilities between the two teams extended to the head coaches postgame after Blues bench boss Jim Montgomery stated Scheifele was injured on the second hit.
"Let's make it clear...No. 55 [Scheifele] got hurt from the Faksa hit," Montgomery said. "He played six minutes after the Schenn hit. He didn't come back after he got rocked by Faksa."
“I didn’t know Monty had his medical degree…He’s way off base,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel fired back.
Arniel did not have an updated on Scheifele's status after the win. He confirmed Thursday that the 32-year-old centre will not travel with the Jets on their trip to St. Louis and is out for Game 6.
In Game 5, the Jets used Scheifele's injury as a rallying cry.
“Sometimes when you lose your No. 1 centre, you lose a key piece to your lineup there can be a bit of a sag, an emotional letdown. But you know, I thought the guys really rallied around it,” Jets captain Adam Lowry said.
"I thought throughout the lineup, it was outstanding. I thought that everybody stepped up, obviously finding out that 'Scheif' wasn’t coming back,” Arniel added. “But even prior to that, we had a great first. We were physical. We were battling. Competing. Doing all the things we have to do to get ourselves going.
"Just real proud of the way the guys stuck together and just played our game. We got to Jet hockey. We got to Jet hockey early and we played it for 60 minutes.”
Winnipeg can advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Friday with a win in Game 6.
Scheifele is tied with forward Kyle Connor in team scoring during the postseason with two goals and five points through four games.
He was also second in team scoring during the regular season, recording 39 goals and 87 points in 82 games.