The St. Louis Blues watched their playoff hopes dim under the bright lights at Enterprise Center on Thursday, falling 3-2 to the Winnipeg Jets in a game they could hardly afford to lose. With only four regular-season games left, the margin for error is now paper-thin, and the Blues could be officially out of the chase as early as Saturday.
What Happened Thursday
As recapped by ESPN, the night actually started on a high note for St. Louis. Dylan Holloway opened the scoring in the first period with a wrist shot off a setup from Robert Thomas and Philip Broberg, giving the home crowd something to roar about. The Blues pushed late, with Colton Parayko blasting home a third-period goal as they tried to claw all the way back.
Winnipeg, though, had already done its damage. Alex Iafallo answered Holloway's opener with a close-range finish, and the Jets took control in the second period with goals from Josh Morrissey and Jonathan Toews. Jordan Binnington kept the Blues in it with 31 saves, but Connor Hellebuyck turned aside 20 shots at the other end, and that was enough to send the visitors out of town with the win. Official attendance at Enterprise Center was listed at 18,096.
Playoff Picture Tightens
The loss only tightened an already jammed wild-card race that, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch pointed out, could leave the Blues mathematically eliminated as soon as Saturday. There is not much wiggle room left.
St. Louis sits at 78 points with four games remaining, while Winnipeg's win bumped the Jets to 82 points, according to the AP recap hosted at Yahoo Sports. That slim gap means any stumble over the next week could be the one that shuts the door on the Blues' postseason ambitions.
What’s Next
The path forward is straightforward and unforgiving. The Blues head to Chicago on Saturday, then return home for meetings with Minnesota and Pittsburgh before wrapping the regular season on the road at Utah, per the schedule on NHL.com.
With so few games left, every result carries heavy weight. A regulation loss in Chicago would not only darken the Blues' playoff math but could also hand a crucial boost to other teams lurking in the same wild-card scramble.
