The Winnipeg Jets received grim news to start their Sunday, as it’s been revealed that star center Mark Scheifele won’t be healthy enough to dress for Game 7, per Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press.
The details of Scheifele’s injury haven’t been disclosed. He exited Game 5 in the first period a few shifts after receiving a big hit from St. Louis Blues captain Brayden Schenn. Scheifele sat out of Game 6 but took the ice at Saturday morning’s practice, donning a track suit. Wiebe also shares that defenseman Logan Stanley will be a game-time decision.
Scheifele will stick in the track suit as Winnipeg faces a must-win game on Sunday. He’s been a star for the Jets all season long, having appeared in all 82 games of the regular season and scoring 39 goals and 87 points – both second on the team behind Kyle Connor’s 41 goals and 97 points. Scheifele’s strong scoring carried into the postseason, where he managed two goals and six points in five games, or 13 periods, of action.
The Jets offense simply doesn’t function the same without their high-motor, high-speed center leading the charge. Winnipeg turned to Vladislav Namestnikov and Adam Lowry to fill the roles of top-six center in Game 6, which added plenty of pressure to the shoulders of top wingers Connor, Gabriel Vilardi and Nikolaj Ehlers. The Jets only managed two goals with that makeup – both coming on the power-play, where they had the clearest advantage over the Blues.
That could be Winnipeg’s silver lining, as St. Louis has recorded the second-most penalty minutes in the postseason so far, with 148 through six games. Unfortunately, the only team above them is the Jets, who have recorded seven more penalties than St. Louis.
Efforts to balance out penalties could be made a bit easier if hard-hitting defender Logan Stanley is forced to sit. He leads the entire postseason with 42 penalty minutes in five games played, and has no scoring and a negative plus-minus to show for it. Stanley is an imposing six-foot-seven and capable of squaring up opponents seemingly every time they try to break into Winnipeg’s zone. That will be a tough role to fill should Stanley be forced out of the lineup. Winnipeg’s next man up would likely be Haydn Fleury, who recorded seven assists and a minus-12 in 39 games during the regular season.
