WINNIPEG \u2014 Game 5 hero Vladislav Namestnikov said the Winnipeg Jets beat the St. Louis Blues because they did their homework. Jets coach Scott Arniel accused Blues coach Jim Montgomery of faking his way through medical school.<\/p>\n
The verbal sparring and Namestnikov\u2019s heroics came as a result of an injury to Mark Scheifele that cast a dark cloud on Winnipeg\u2019s 5-3 win. Scheifele had taken two particularly hard hits in the first period \u2014 one from Brayden Schenn and one from Radek Faksa. Schenn\u2019s shoulder struck Scheifele\u2019s head as his arms pushed through Scheifele\u2019s chest 6:12 into the first period. Faksa dumped Scheifele with a hard shoulder-to-shoulder check 17:02 in.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Scheifele) got hurt from the Faksa hit. He played six minutes after the Schenn hit. He didn\u2019t come back after he got rocked by Faksa,\u201d Montgomery said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know Monty got his medical degree, trying to say how our player got hurt. He\u2019s way off base,\u201d said Arniel.<\/p>\n
Scheifele played the rest of the first period but did not return.<\/p>\n
Schenn\u2019s hit was by far the more dangerous of the two. Scheifele had received a rimmed puck at the left-wing boards and played it with his back to Colton Parayko at the point. Parayko stepped up and made a stick check, stopping Scheifele from making a clean play and keeping Scheifele\u2019s attention focused on the bouncing puck. Schenn was assessed a minor penalty for interference, but Arniel argued it should have been more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not happy with how the call was made. A two-minute minor,\u201d Arniel said. \u201cNot even looking at it is what I was upset about. And it is something that we have talked to the league about for five games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Replays that show Schenn from the front and Scheifele from the back make it difficult to see Schenn\u2019s shoulder strike Scheifele\u2019s head; a reverse angle shown on Sportsnet approximately 38 seconds into this clip makes it clearer.<\/p>\n
We do not have clarity on Scheifele\u2019s medical status, nor can we say for certain that the injury was the result of the Schenn or Faksa hits, or any other moment in the first period. Arniel said Scheifele would be evaluated further and did not give a definitive answer when asked if Scheifele would travel to St. Louis for Game 6.<\/p>\n
This makes Namestnikov\u2019s emergence such an important part of the story. Before Game 5, Namestnikov had zero points in four playoff games and hadn\u2019t scored a goal since March 11, shortly after the trade deadline, at which point Winnipeg did its best to replace him with Brock Nelson. That attempt followed the Jets\u2019 2024 acquisition of Sean Monahan \u2014 another move to bump Namestnikov down from second-line centre. Instead of moving Namestnikov down the lineup, Scheifele\u2019s injury catapulted him to the No. 1 job and top power-play duties.<\/p>\n
Closing the second out in FASHION \ud83e\udd29 pic.twitter.com\/AbaRWAmyrQ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) May 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Namestnikov responded by scoring the game winner, adding an assist on Dylan DeMelo\u2019s 3-2 goal and making the zone entry that led to Nino Niederreiter\u2019s 2-1 goal earlier in the game. He could have scored another in the third period, deking out Jordan Binnington but missing the net, and is as unheralded as it comes. Even his own teammates had no idea how good he would be when the Jets picked him up for a fourth-round pick in 2023. (Namestnikov was the runaway winner of \u201cmost underrated player\u201d in our Jets player poll<\/a> last season.)<\/p>\n \u201cI thought he rose to the occasion,\u201d said Kyle Connor, who scored a goal and set up Namestnikov\u2019s winner with one of his two assists. \u201cIt\u2019s not one guy that needs to fill the shoes of Mark. It needs to be everybody. And the way he plays, Vladdy, he\u2019s been great for the whole series, and a couple chances here or there, he could have some better results.\u201d<\/p>\n