Blues and Jets Set for Opening Round Bout

The St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets will meet in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs opening round. This will be the second time the two organizations have met in the postseason, with the Blues winning their previous series en route to their 2019 Stanley Cup championship. Now, the top-ranked Jets will face the final playoff team in the Western Conference.

The Jets enter this series as the best regular-season team in the NHL. They captured the Presidents' Trophy after edging out the Washington Capitals for the best record. Their success is built on the play of superstar goalie Connor Hellebuyck. He's put together a career year, going 46-12-3 with a 2.02 goals-against average and .924 save percentage. He's the presumptive Vezina Trophy winner this year and is likely to finish near the top of MVP voting.

The challenge for the Blues will be solving Hellebuyck, and their offensive group has some potential matchup issues for the Jets' defense. St. Louis is the 14th best offense in the NHL this year, averaging 3.07 goals per game. The Jets allow 2.33 goals per game, meaning something's got to give when these two teams meet.

The Blues' offense has hit their stride over the last two months of the regular season, giving the organization hope that they can crack the Jets. Led by a 36-goal season from Jordan Kyrou, five Blues forwards have hit the 20-goal mark. Robert Thomas leads the team in overall scoring, with 81 points in 70 games.

Winnipeg controlled the regular season series, and they hope that success translates to the postseason. This year, the Jets won three of four games over the Blues.

The Blues could counter that three of those games were tight until the very end. The Jets won two of those games by a single goal, and their latest meeting was a one-goal game until an empty-net goal gave the Jets a two-goal victory. The Jets may have three victories, but these two teams are evenly matched when they compete. Game 1 kicks off in Winnipeg, and it should be one of the most exciting series in the opening round.