Welcome to NHL Predictions! Welcome to the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs! Like the regular season, Last Word On Hockey will review each game and give our thoughts and predictions. On this Easter Vigil, we look at Game 1 of the series between the St. Louis Blues and the Winnipeg Jets.
Time: 6:00 P.M. EST
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Midwest, TNT, truTV, Max, CBC, Sportsnet
The Blues and Jets will open up their best-of-seven series Saturday in Winnipeg. Game 2 will be on Monday. After two days off, the series will shift to St. Louis for Games 3 and 4 on Thursday and Sunday.
After two years away from the playoffs, the Blues are back in. The team played exceptionally well following the 4 Nations Face-Off, including a 12-game winning streak. The Blues would enjoy another 12-game winning streak, putting them in the Stanley Cup Final. Winning 12 in a row in the playoffs may be a tall order, but it is a nice thought. Is it not Blues fans?
The Blues will look to shake some Game 1 rust on Saturday. Dating back to the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Blues are 4-6 in the opening games of a series. Since the Blue Note are starting this series on the road, winning Game 1 and stealing home ice would be huge.
The Blues will likely be without Dylan Holloway, who missed the final five games of the regular season. On the bright side, however, the team has enjoyed having Colton Parayko back in the lineup. After his best season, Parayko will look to lead the Blues defensive core against a potent Jets offence.
The Jets will be looking to exorcise some playoff demons this season. Since reaching the Western Conference Final in 2018, the Jets have only won one playoff series. Furthermore, each of the last two postseasons has seen the Jets get eliminated in the first round after just five games.
The Jets won the President’s Trophy this season behind a potent offence. Kyle Connor finished the year with 41 goals and 97 points. Mark Scheifele scored 39 goals and recorded 87 points. Furthermore, 12 players reached 10 goals or more. The Jets had scoring up and down their lineup. The Jets will need secondary scoring to succeed in this series against a goaltender who does well on the big stage.
Like the Blues, the Jets will likely be missing a piece of their lineup for Game 1. Nikolaj Ehlers has been out with a foot injury and is considered week-to-week.
Jordan Binnington and Connor Hellebuyck have strong showings in net to open the series. That will be fitting, given the two met in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship a few months ago. The game will go into the third period tied 1-1. A team will strike quickly with two quick goals to take a 3-1 lead. The leading team will put the icing on the cake with not one but two goals into an empty net. Which team is coming away with the win? The Blues shake off the Game 1 rust and shock the President’s Trophy winners.
Blues win, 5-1.
The over/under is set at 5.5 goals. We are taking the over with six goals.
For prop bets, we are taking defenceman Neal Pionk to score for the Jets. For the Blues, we like Jordan Kyrou to pick up where he left off in 2022. The forward will record his first-career playoff hat trick to get things started right for the Blues.
Main Photo: Connor Hamilton- Imagn Images
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Welcome back to another NHL Predictions (Playoffs Edition). Each day, our writers here at Last Word on Hockey look at the games and give in-depth analysis.
Welcome back to another NHL Predictions. Each day our writers here at Last Word on Hockey look at the games and give in-depth analysis. Our team breaks
