The Jets round 1 series shifts to St. Louis tonight for a pivotal game 3. Winning both of their home games, the Jets are looking to carry that winning momentum into hostile territory. In game 2, the Jets strong physicality stood out, and another 3rd period goal by Kyle Connor was the game winner. The Blues were a strong 24-14-3 at home this regular season, so the Jets will need to bring their A game tonight if they want to steal the Blues home ice advantage (for games 3 and 4) and take a big 3-0 series lead.

Before diving deeper into this preview for game 3, let’s look at how the other Western Conference round 1 matchups are going through this 1st week of the playoffs. On the “bottom half” of the bracket, the Vegas Golden Knights and Minnesota Wild are even at 1. A strong game from Karill Kaprisov helped the Wild jump off to a big lead, and it was enough to steal home ice advantage from the Golden Knights.

The other Pacific Division matchup sees the L.A Kings leading the Oilers 2 games to none after a big 6-2 win for the Kings on home ice last night. The Oilers goaltending and defense have struggled this series, and the Oilers have had to try and come back down big in both games.

Finally, the matchup the Jets fans are closely watching is the Stars vs. Avalanche. Last night Tyler Seguin was the hero for the Stars, marking their 2nd straight OT victory. With the series now 2-1 Stars, the Jets are hoping it will be a long and tough series, as the winner of this matchup would be the Jets round 2 opponent if they were able to win this series against the Blues.

Tonight’s starting goalies are Connor Hellebuyck and Jordan Binnington. Hellebuyck has looked like the better of the two goalies so far this series, but Binnington has still done well enough to keep the Blues in games late and in key moments. Game 2 was Hellebuyck’s first playoff game of 2024-25 where he proved that he can perform well in the playoffs under pressure.

In terms of tonight’s lineups, we’ll have to wait for official confirmation from both teams closer to puck drop. Gabriel Vilardi remains in a “day to day” status, while Nikolaj Ehlers is still out “week to week” with the injury he suffered at the end of the season. Head coach Scott Arniel will likely stay with the same lineup that has worked well for him in the first two games of this season. With Vilardi’s return getting close, it’s worth keeping an eye on the lineup when he returns to see if he will be slotted back on the 1st line with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor or if he’ll be placed on line 2 with Cole Perfetti and Vladislav Namestnikov or another similar combination.

Puck drop for game 3 of this Jets and Blues round 1 series goes tonight slightly after 8:40 pm CT. If you’re in the Winnipeg area, Canada Life Centre will be hosting a viewing party at the arena, in addition to the usual Winnipeg Whiteout outdoors. If the Jets can pick up the win tonight, they’ll take a commanding 3-0 series lead, and will have a chance to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs on Sunday afternoon. Follow along during the game on our Jets Nation twitter, and make sure to check back after the game for a recap of tonight’s game 3 action.

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