Blues hoping to defend home ice once again as Jets look to fight their way into NHL's second round

The first five games of the Winnipeg-St. Louis series have all had the same result. The home team won.

The Blues need that trend to continue Friday — or else.

Game 6 of the Jets-Blues matchup awaits in St. Louis, with Winnipeg — the NHL's best team in the regular season — holding a 3-2 series lead. The Blues rolled to wins on their home ice in Games 3 and 4, taking those games by scores of 7-2 and 5-1 to extend a run of invincibility there that has lasted for more than two months.

“It's a tough building to play in,” Jets forward Vladislav Namestnikov said. “But I know we can get the win there.”

If they do, they will be doing so without star Mark Scheifele, the team's second-leading scorer and leader in game-winning goals this season. Scheifele was hurt in Game 5 and wasn't flying with Winnipeg to St. Louis on Thursday for Game 6.

The teams had different opinions about when Scheifele got hurt, but the bottom line is the Jets will be missing a big part of their team for a potential closeout game.

“Certainly, not having him is going to be huge,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said Thursday. “But at the end of the day, last night, our three centermen had to step up and play big minutes and did a great job. ... So proud of the group, how everybody stepped up. It's kind of what our team has done all year. Guys go down, other guys step in.”

Winnipeg was the most recent visiting team to win in St. Louis — but that was more than two months ago.

The Blues have put together the longest home winning streak in the NHL this season, a 14-game run that started on Feb. 23 and hasn't stopped. St. Louis has outscored opponents 69-25 in that span at home, winning by an average of a whopping 3.14 goals per game.

“We've played some good hockey at home for a couple months now,” St. Louis' Brayden Schenn said. “We're comfortable there.”

That's a bit of an understatement. The Blues have simply looked like a different team in their own building; St. Louis has had stretches of three goals in five minutes, three goals in eight minutes and three goals in 15 minutes so far in this series on its own ice.

They looked nothing like that club in Game 5, a 5-3 Winnipeg win that probably wasn't as close as that score would make it seem. Blues coach Jim Montgomery didn't waste any time thinking about that game once the final horn sounded.

“We can analyze every part of it. They were better,” Montgomery said. “So, we're on to the next one.”

It took St. Louis a long — long — time to get home on Thursday, after their travel plans were seriously delayed.

The Blues had plane issues trying to leave Winnipeg and, after a replacement jet was sent to Manitoba, they finally took off about eight hours behind schedule.

The Jets landed in St. Louis around 3 p.m. Central time on Thursday, actually a tiny bit ahead of schedule, while the Blues didn't get there until about 9 p.m.

When/Where to Watch: Game 6, Friday. 8 p.m. (TNT/truTV/Max)

Series: Jets lead 3-2

Winnipeg hasn't closed out a series with a road win since 2018, and getting it done Friday will be difficult.

Forget St. Louis' 14-game home winning streak, which is impressive enough. The Blues simply don't give up scoring chances in their building; they have allowed two goals or less in 11 of those 14 wins, and that level of stinginess puts enormous pressure on the other team's netminder.

That said, Winnipeg goalie and MVP hopeful Connor Hellebuyck has reveled in big moments like this all season.

The newly announced Hart Trophy finalist — alongside Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl and Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov — led the NHL with 47 wins, a 2.00 GAA, and a .925 save percentage this season, had eight shutouts, steered Winnipeg to its first Presidents’ Trophy, won the William M. Jennings Trophy (fewest goals allowed) for the second straight year and seems like a lock for the Vezina Trophy (top goalie) for the second straight year and third time in six seasons.

If Hellebuyck does win the Hart as MVP, he'd be the fourth goalie in the league's expansion era to do it alongside Dominik Hasek, José Théodore and Carey Price. He was pulled twice in St. Louis and has a gaudy 3.96 goals-against average and .822 save percentage in this series — including all three wins.

“He's our best player,” Namestnikov said.

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Winnipeg Jets' Adam Lowry (17) attempts a wraparound as Nino Niederreiter (62) crashes into St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) and Ryan Suter (22) defends during the third period of an NHL playoff game in Winnipeg on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Blues' Brayden Schenn (10) celebrates with Colton Parayko (55) after scoring against the Winnipeg Jets during the second period in Game 4 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series Sunday, April 27, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Connor Hamilton)

St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) saves the shot from Winnipeg Jets' Jaret Anderson-Dolan (28) during first period NHL playoff action in Winnipeg on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets' Dylan DeMelo (2), Vladislav Namestnikov (7), Gabriel Vilardi (13) and Kyle Connor (81) celebrate DeMelo's goal against the St. Louis Blues during second period NHL playoff action in Winnipeg on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Blues head coach Jim Montgomery questions referee Kelly Sutherland during first period NHL playoff action against the Winnipeg Jets in Winnipeg on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) makes the save off Winnipeg Jets' Gabriel Vilardi's (13) wraparound attempt during the third period of an NHL playoff game in Winnipeg on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues players rough it up after the Blues score during the third period of an NHL playoff game in Winnipeg on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)

Retired professional baseball player Lenny Dykstra faces charges after Pennsylvania State Police said a trooper found drugs and paraphernalia in his possession during a traffic stop on New Year's Day.

Dykstra, 62, was a passenger when the vehicle was pulled over by a trooper with the Blooming Grove patrol unit in Pike County, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Scranton, where Dykstra lives.

Police said in a statement that charges will be filed but did not specify what they may be or what drugs were allegedly involved.

Matthew Blit, Dykstra’s lawyer, said in a statement that the vehicle did not belong to Dykstra and he was not accused of being under the influence of a substance at the scene.

“To the extent charges are brought against him, they will be swiftly absolved,” Blit said.

Dykstra's gritty style of play over a long career with the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies earned him the nickname “Nails.” He spent years as a businessman before running into a series of legal woes.

Dykstra served time in a California prison for bankruptcy fraud, sentenced to more than six months for hiding baseball gloves and other items from his playing days. That ran concurrent with a three-year sentence for pleading no contest to grand theft auto and providing a false financial statement. He claimed he owed more than $31 million and had only $50,000 in assets.

In April 2012, Dykstra pleaded no contest to exposing himself to women he met through Craigslist.

In 2019, Dykstra pleaded guilty on behalf of his company, Titan Equity Group, to illegally renting out rooms in a New Jersey house that it owned. He agreed to pay about $3,000 in fines.

That same year a judge dropped drug and terroristic threat charges against Dykstra after an altercation with an Uber driver. Police said they found cocaine, MDMA and marijuana among his belongings. Dykstra's lawyer called that incident “overblown” and said he was innocent.

And in 2020 a New York Supreme Court judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit that Dykstra filed against former Mets teammate Ron Darling over his allegation that Dykstra made racist remarks toward an opponent during the 1986 World Series.

Justice Robert D. Kalish said Dykstra’s reputation “for unsportsmanlike conduct and bigotry” had already been so tarnished that it could not be damaged further.

“Based on the papers submitted on this motion, prior to the publication of the book, Dykstra was infamous for being, among other things, racist, misogynist, and anti-gay, as well as a sexual predator, a drug-abuser, a thief, and an embezzler,” Kalish wrote.

FILE - Former baseball player Lenny Dykstra sits during his sentencing for grand theft auto in Los Angeles, on Dec. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)