Jets’ depth players shine, Arniel blasts Montgomery over Scheifele hits: ‘He’s way off base’

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WINNIPEG — 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.

The verbal sparring and Namestnikov’s heroics came as a result of an injury to Mark Scheifele that cast a dark cloud on Winnipeg’s 5-3 win. Scheifele had taken two particularly hard hits in the first period — one from Brayden Schenn and one from Radek Faksa. Schenn’s shoulder struck Scheifele’s head as his arms pushed through Scheifele’s chest 6:12 into the first period. Faksa dumped Scheifele with a hard shoulder-to-shoulder check 17:02 in.

“(Scheifele) got hurt from the Faksa hit. He played six minutes after the Schenn hit. He didn’t come back after he got rocked by Faksa,” Montgomery said.

“I didn’t know Monty got his medical degree, trying to say how our player got hurt. He’s way off base,” said Arniel.

Scheifele played the rest of the first period but did not return.

Schenn’s 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’s attention focused on the bouncing puck. Schenn was assessed a minor penalty for interference, but Arniel argued it should have been more.

“I’m not happy with how the call was made. A two-minute minor,” Arniel said. “Not 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.”

Replays that show Schenn from the front and Scheifele from the back make it difficult to see Schenn’s shoulder strike Scheifele’s head; a reverse angle shown on Sportsnet approximately 38 seconds into this clip makes it clearer.

We do not have clarity on Scheifele’s 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.

This makes Namestnikov’s emergence such an important part of the story. Before Game 5, Namestnikov had zero points in four playoff games and hadn’t 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’ 2024 acquisition of Sean Monahan — another move to bump Namestnikov down from second-line centre. Instead of moving Namestnikov down the lineup, Scheifele’s injury catapulted him to the No. 1 job and top power-play duties.

Closing the second out in FASHION 🤩 pic.twitter.com/AbaRWAmyrQ

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) May 1, 2025

Namestnikov responded by scoring the game winner, adding an assist on Dylan DeMelo’s 3-2 goal and making the zone entry that led to Nino Niederreiter’s 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 “most underrated player” in our Jets player poll last season.)

“I thought he rose to the occasion,” said Kyle Connor, who scored a goal and set up Namestnikov’s winner with one of his two assists. “It’s not one guy that needs to fill the shoes of Mark. It needs to be everybody. And the way he plays, Vladdy, he’s been great for the whole series, and a couple chances here or there, he could have some better results.”

Namestnikov’s zero goal, zero assist stat line was the primary reason we listed him among the Jets who needed to step up their game the most. The Jets’ advantage over St. Louis is supposed to be the strength and depth of their middle-six forwards, especially with Dylan Holloway missing for the Blues. Namestnikov had been productive with Cole Perfetti and Nikolaj Ehlers earlier in the season, but his two-point performance in Game 5 equaled his production for the rest of April.

“Things happen in playoffs; sometimes the puck doesn’t go in, but you kind of have to stick with it,” Namestnikov said. “When things don’t go your way, we lost Scheif, people have to step up. So I think as a team we stepped up today and got the win.”

I asked if he’d felt the burden of not having produced points before Game 5.

“Yeah, you always want to contribute. But as I said, hockey’s not all about scoring; sometimes you have to defend as well. So, yes, you’d like to contribute. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do that and good thing that that one went in.”

If Scheifele misses Game 6 or any time after that, Namestnikov’s role will remain disproportionately big. There’s no star centre in waiting here unless it turns out Scheifele is at 100 percent. The Jets didn’t land Nelson at the trade deadline and stuck to the modest additions of Brandon Tanev and Luke Schenn instead. It’s already a testament to Namestnikov that he’s capable of playing up the lineup to great effect in this short, series-saving burst.

He was far from the only depth player to step up on Wednesday.

Mason Appleton made a brilliant kick play to set up Connor’s game-opening goal, despite taking a high stick to the face. Niederreiter scored his first goal of the series, too, deflecting Dylan Samberg’s point shot, and then Appleton and Niederreiter combined to get Adam Lowry an empty net goal to make it 5-2 with 3:13 left in the game.

“Sometimes when you lose your No. 1 centre, there can be a bit of a sag, an emotional letdown,” Lowry said. “But I thought the guys really rallied around it. Coming in the intermission and finding out he’s not coming back, guys (stayed) upbeat. … I thought Vladdy had a heck of a game. Appy, Nino, Bear, throughout the lineup, guys really playing more minutes.”

It was Winnipeg’s best game of the series so far, a feat Namestnikov attributed to better preparation. He didn’t name the Jets’ tactical adjustments but said it was a matter of Winnipeg doing its “homework” and committing to defence first before going on the attack.

That defence-first part of Namestnikov’s game is a big part of why the Jets went after him in 2023. His tenacity all over the ice contributes to team success even when he’s not scoring, while occasional offensive hot streaks can make him look like a vital middle-six contributor. Even when he’s played on the Jets’ fourth line, it’s been easy to back Namestnikov as someone who might show up in a big game.

Fourth line or not, mark my words: If Winnipeg does anything special in the playoffs, Vladislav Namestnikov is going to score a goal that everyone remembers.

Robbed by Joel Hofer on his latest clean look.

— Murat Ates (@WPGMurat) February 28, 2024

Why was this player available for a fourth-round pick? Why did so many teams let him go?

One question Namestnikov can answer is why he stayed in Winnipeg. The Michigan product has signed two two-year extensions with the Jets after bouncing around a lot on bigger market teams. This is what he told The Athletic when he signed his two-year, $3 million extension that begins next season:

“Winnipeg is very similar to Michigan, to me. You can drive anywhere with no traffic, really, and I like that kind of stuff. I like when it’s more chill. New York was so different. Everything is so crazy there. You were always scared to be late for something.”

If Namestnikov hadn’t shown up in Game 5, the Jets might have been too late to stop St. Louis from taking over Round 1. And if he shows up again in Game 6, it could buy Winnipeg more time to get Scheifele back.

In the meantime, Arniel and Montgomery — old friends turned verbal sparring partners — will study video and draw up their game plans for Game 6. The Jets have the Blues on the brink of elimination now, but have yet to beat them in St. Louis.

(Photo: Cameron Bartlett / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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