Holy crap the Jets are back on the road!

For the first time since Janurary 25, the Winnipeg Jets don the away white jerseys and march into St. Louis to take on the Blues in a fairly critical Central division match up. Tonight is the first half of a back to back set for the Jets – they play again in Dallas tomorrow night – and the first of three straight meetings with division rivals.

Despite the loss to the Kings on Tuesday, it was a fairly successful homestand for the Jets as they went 6-3-1, knocking off a couple of division leaders while they were at it. They weren’t able to create any real separation at the top of the division standings – The Nashville predators are four points ahead for first place going into tonight’s action – but the Jets did manage to get a little cushion between themselves and third place – also known as the final division playoff spot. Winnipeg is six points ahead of the Minnesota Wild and seven ahead of both the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars. Another positive note for the Jets is they are getting healthy in goal. Both Michael Hutchinson and Steve Mason have been medically cleared. Hutch will be the backup for Connor Hellebuyck tonight, with the Jets wanting to give Mason one more week or so as they error on the side of caution with him.

No time is an ideal time to fall into a slump, but with four losses in a row right now, the Blues can ill afford a fifth in a row tonight. Their last three losses have come on the road as they dropped a game to the Penguins before losing in OT in Nashville and then a regulation loss against Dallas. The slade is so alarming for the Blues that they actually stopped practice on Thursday and instead held a closed door meeting.

The Blues last win was in fact at home to the Jets on February 9 in a 5-2 win that was arguably one of the worst games the Jets played all season. This is the fourth and final meeting between the two clubs with the Blues holding a 2-1-0 edge in the season series right now. Connor Hellebuyck has started the last two games against the Blues, with Steve Mason having taken the other start.  Patrik Laine has a goal in each of the last two games against St. Louis as well. Before this season the Jets had managed to beat the Blues in six straight.

The Blues are going to attack this game with a slight amount of desperation and I fear the Jets – who will be just getting their road legs back under them – will not be ready. Blues win this contest by another 5-2 score.