The 2025 NHL playoffs get started with a first-round Western Conference matchup between the Jets and Blues, which is set to begin on Saturday, April 19 at 6:00 p.m. EST. While the Presidents’ Trophy curse may haunt Winnipeg in the long run, it is still a -180 favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook to advance to the second round of the playoffs. St. Louis has played dominant hockey since the 4-Nations break in February, and, for a team that just broke their two-year playoff drought, they’ll be hungry for an upset.
The Jets and Blues will meet in the postseason for the first time since 2019, when St. Louis won the best-of-7 series in six games and eventually went on to secure its first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Things have been vastly different for these two teams in the past two seasons, however. Winnipeg has found immense regular-season success but was eliminated in five games in back-to-back postseasons while St. Louis failed to even qualify for the playoffs.
Jets vs. Blues first-round series preview
Let’s start with Winnipeg. Based on what the Jets looked like throughout the regular season, the only thing standing in their way is the Presidents’ Trophy curse, which has claimed two first-round exits in the past six postseasons. Winnipeg posted 110 points last season yet fell to Colorado in just five games in the first round. This season, the Jets posted a franchise-high 116 points and now have to deal with possibly the hottest team in the league, the Blues. Will it happen again?
Sending out Connor Hellebuyck between the pipes is a pure luxury. He is clearly the best goaltender in the league and led all goaltenders in wins, shutouts and goals against on average (GAA). A good goaltender could carry a team in the postseason but the Jets were stellar both offensively and defensively, making them rather dangerous. They field the best powerplay unit in the league, ranked first in 5v5 goal percentage and scored the fourth-most total goals this season. Josh Morrissey is an underrated and elite defensemen, and their overall depth looks strong on paper. If Winnipeg had any weakness at all, it’d be its penalty kill unit––which still ranks 13th in the league––but, this is truly how good the team is from top to bottom.
The Blues started the season off slow, going 6-9-0 through the first 16 games of the season. Keep in mind that the Jets went 15-1-0 in this stretch, so these teams were polar opposites in October and November. Winnipeg slowed down a bit but still maintained its high level of play but St. Louis made a coaching change, which turned out to be the correct choice. The Blues posted a 19-4-3 record since the 4 Nations break and even went on a 12-game winning streak from late March through April.
Guess which team ended that winning streak? The Jets. This series will give us shades of the USA vs. Canada 4 Nations game where Hellebuyck and Jordan Binnington were in between the pipes. While the Blues cleaned up their penalty kill and fielded the best unit over the last month of the season, the Jets still have the No. 1 powerplay unit. And as much as I love Robert Thomas and his playmaking, the overall lack of depth is concerning for St. Louis. Binnington played well the last time the Blues were in the postseason but he’s struggled against the Jets throughout his career––posting a 3-7-1 record and allowing 3.25 goals per game.
Jets vs. Blues first-round series predictions, best bets
Now that we’ve laid out the key information for each team, what’s the best way to attack this series from a betting perspective?
As I mentioned above, it is Binnington vs. Hellebuyck. If the Blues win this series, it will very likely be because Binnington outplayed Hellebuyck. While both defenses are strong, I lean towards the Jets, primarily because Morrissey clears every Blues’ defenseman. We’re all aware of the Jets’ postseason struggles and the red-hot Blues are the perfect team to continue that trend but I think this is the year they’re able to advance past the first round. They were the second-best home team this season and should be able to take advantage of home ice for the first two games.
St Louis lacks the overall depth that Winnipeg has. Outside of Thomas, there’s a fairly large drop-off in talent and I’d rather not risk trusting the likes of Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich outplaying guys either Mark Scheifele or Cole Perfetti. I’ve trusted Hellebuyck all season long and there’s no reason to stop when the lights get real bright. Thanks to the Jets’ yips, I’m fully expecting them to drop a game or two but still handle the series rather handily.
