“He should not make that comment,” Jets HC Scott Arniel BLASTS Blues HC Jim Montgomery over remarks regarding Mark Scheifele’s injury in Game 5

Jets coach Scott Arniel was angry with the comment of Blues coach Jim Montgomery over the injury to Mark Scheifele and blasted him.

“He should not make that comment,” Jets HC Scott Arniel BLASTS Blues HC Jim Montgomery over remarks regarding Mark Scheifele’s injury in Game 5

Scott Arniel, Mark Scheifele and Jim Montgomery (Image via Sports Illustrated/NHLPA/NESN)

A war of words took place between the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues coaches after an injury to Mark Scheifele. In the press conference, Jets head coach Scott Arniel expressed his frustration regarding the comments of the Blues’ head coach Jim Montgomery.

The Winnipeg Jets, who won the 2024-25 Presidents’ Trophy, are going up against the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the series. After losing the first two games of the series, the Blues bounced back with victories in Game 3 and 4.

In the fifth game of the series, Jets’ star centre Mark Scheifele got injured. He would leave Game 5 in the second period due to an undisclosed injury and did not return in the third period.

While how he got injured is not known, the Jets star did get hit by Blues captain Brayden Schenn earlier in the game. In the press conference, Blues coach Jim Montgomery expressed that Scheifele got injured through a collision with Radek Faska and not Schenn. The former Boston Bruins coach also pointed out that Scheifele played six more minutes after the hit from Schenn.

Let’s make it clear. #55 (Mark 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.

Jim Montgomery told the reporters in the press conference

This was something that did not sit well with Scott Arniel. While discussing about this hit in the press conference, the Jets coach blasted his counterpart and claimed that he should have not made such a comment.

Well, I didn’t know Monty (Jim Montgomery) got his medical degree trying to say how our player got hurt. He’s way off base. He should not make that comment.

Scott Arniel said in the press conference

Arniel also expressed frustration regarding the call over this hit from the officials. The Jets coach urged that it should not have been just a 2-minute minor penalty and that the referees should have taken another look at it.

Jets commentator comments on Brayden Schenn’s hit on Mark Scheifele

The Game 5 between the Winnipeg Jets and the St. Louis Blues sparked a heated discussion regarding the actions of Brayden Schenn. The Blues captain came down hard on Mark Scheifele, who later exited the game. A Jets color commentator shared their feelings about this hit after the game.

Brayden Schenn and Mark Scheifele
Brayden Schenn and Mark Scheifele (Image via Bolavip/Illegal Curve Hockey)

While speaking with Jay Onrait, Jets color commentator and former NHL star Kevin Sawyer expressed that the hit from Schenn on Scheifele was “outside” the rules of the game. He did mention before that in playoff hockey, teams usually target the opposition team’s best player.

This hit right here, this is a tough one. This is late and it’s high from Schenn. This to me is outside the rules of the game and that is exactly why Scott Arniel is upset.

Kevin Sawyer said

Sawyer, though, also expressed that Scheifele could have done more to protect himself from this hit from the Blues captain. Before his departure from this game, Scheifele had an 8:05 ice time. He was the second-highest scorer for the team in the regular season with 39 goals and 48 assists (87 points).

Jets push Blues on the brink with win in Game 5 after Mark Scheifele leaves mid-game

With both teams winning 2 games each, Game 5 was a huge one. In this, the Winnipeg Jets came out on top and put their opponents, the St. Louis Blues, on the brink of elimination with a win in Game 5 after Mark Scheifele left the game in the middle due to an injury.

Winnipeg Jets
Winnipeg Jets celebrating their win (Image via Winnipeg Free Press)

After the Blues came back from a 1-0 and 2-1 deficit, the Jets fired again in the 2nd period. A goal from Dylan DeMelo made it 3-2 for them, giving his team their third lead of the game. Just near the end of the period, Vladislav Namestnikov stuck to make it 4-2 for the Jets.

In the third period, the hosts extended their lead to 5-2 through Adam Lowry on an empty netter. The Blues did manage to pull one back late on to make it 5-3, but the game was well beyond their grasp at that point.

Game 6 of this series will take place on Friday, March 2nd. If the Jets win that game, they will move on to the next round and will face the winner of the Dallas Stars-Colorado Avalanche series.

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