After going 47-12-3 with a 2.00 goals-against average, .925 save percentage and a League-leading eight shutouts in 63 games (62 starts) during the regular season, Hellebuyck is now 3-3 with a 4.42 GAA and .815 save percentage in six starts this postseason (pulled three times).
Forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who returned to the lineup after missing the previous seven games (final two of the regular season and first five of the first round) with a lower-body injury, echoed Arniel, though, saying Game 6 was on the Jets, not Hellebuyck.
“Oh, definitely self-inflicted,” Ehlers said. “I don’t need to talk about ‘Bucky.’ Bucky has been phenomenal for us all year, and he’s continued to do that. We’ve got to be better. We know when we play the right way, play well, making the right reads, we are a really good team, and we’ve shown that in this series. We’ve got to keep that up for 60 minutes.”
Yet, for the third consecutive game, the Jets were unable to do that in St. Louis, where they’ve been outscored 17-5 in the series. On Friday, the damage came quick and often.
Jets forward Cole Perfetti got his first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal when he scored on the power play to tie the game 1-1 at 5:43 of the second period. About six minutes later, the Blues regained the lead and kept on adding to it, scoring four goals in a 5:23 span.
“I don’t really know,” Perfetti said. “They got that second one then it just kind of, things got carried away and we just lost our game for four or five minutes, and they got a couple pucks through and they found the back of the net, and that was frustrating.
“Happened a couple times now in this series where we fell asleep for a few minutes and they jumped on us. So, got to make sure we play a complete 60. … We fall asleep for 5-10 minutes, I mean, that was all.”
It didn’t help that the Jets were without Mark Scheifele, who sustained an undisclosed injury in Winnipeg’s 5-3 win against the Blues in Game 5 on Wednesday. Scheifele has six points (two goals, four assists) in five games in the series, which is tied for second on the Jets.
No matter who was in or out of the lineup, though, it was more of the same for Winnipeg in St. Louis.
Now, the Jets have one last chance to advance to the second round for the first time since 2021. They’ve won all three games of the series at Canada Life Centre by coming together and playing as a collective unit. They’ll need that same effort on Sunday.
“It’s our goalie against their goalie (Jordan Binnington). Like I mentioned to you guys (earlier in the series), it’s getting repetitive. It’s our best players against their best players, and it’s our grinders going against theirs. It’s specialty teams, it’s D-zone coverage,” Arniel said.
“It’s what we do as a group. It’s getting to Jet hockey here and getting back to it again, and you know what, I have a lot of confidence in our group. Not just ‘Helly,’ I have a lot of confidence in our group. You win one hockey game, you move onto the next round.”
