6 hours Ago By Adam Gretz, Yardbarker
The 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs opened on Saturday with two Western Conference games. The Winnipeg Jets took Game 1 of their series over the St. Louis Blues with a 5-3 come-from-behind win, while the Colorado Avalanche picked up a 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars.
Here are some takeaways from the day's action. Winnipeg delivers a big message KYLE CONNOR FOR THE LEAD LATE IN THE THIRD!! ✈️ #StanleyCup : @NHL_On_TNT & @SportsonMax ➡️ https://t.co/4TuyIATi3T : @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.
co/4KjbdjVctF pic.twitter.com/qy1dZm7U0Y This was an impressive win for the Jets.
Not only for the way they rallied late in the game to get the win, but also for the way they completely took the game over during the final 30 minutes of regulation and completely shut down the Blues offense. They limited the Blues to just 17 total shots on goal for the game, and only eight over the second and third periods. St.
Louis registered just two shots in the third period. If the Jets keep playing like that, they are going to be an extraordinarily tough team to knock out. What makes Saturday's performance even more impressive is that they did that without two key forwards in Nikolaj Ehlers and Gabriel Vilardi due to injury.
Do not worry too much about Connor Hellebuyck If the Jets had ended up losing this game Hellebuyck would have probably been a big focal point for discussion. His past two playoff showings have been extremely poor, especially by his standards, and he opened this year's playoffs by allowing three goals on only 17 shots. That is not an ideal showing from strictly a numbers perspective.
But try not to overreact to that. All three Blues shots that beat him were nearly perfect shots, while he also came through and made some big saves to give the Jets a chance. He was good enough, but can be better.
That also has to be a concern for the Blues. They gave Winnipeg and Hellebuyck what might have been their best punch and still could not win. Weirdest goal of the day That has to go to Colorado's Artturi Lehkonen for his goal to open the scoring against the Stars.
As he fell to the ice, he accidentally directed the puck toward the net with his skate and had it beat Jake Oettinger. The @Avalanche are on the board first in this one! ️ #StanleyCup : @NHL_On_TNT & @SportsonMax ➡️ https://t.co/4TuyIATi3T : @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.
co/4KjbdjVctF pic.twitter.com/Qm2mHodbyS That play had to be reviewed to make sure it was not a distinct kicking motion, which would have negated it.
By the letter of the rule, you might have been able to argue that he did kick it, but this is also one of those situations where common sense has to prevail. There is no way that act was done intentionally, and certainly not with the intent of scoring. Weird bounce.
Lucky bounce for the Avalanche. Stars' injuries are going to be a problem The Stars entered the playoffs on a seven-game losing streak, and were not able to snap it on Saturday night. It was not for a lack of effort.
It was also not necessarily because they played poorly. The game was a lot closer than the final score would have you believe. This was the combination of Colorado playing even better, Avalanche goalie MacKenzie Blackwood playing outstanding and the Stars also being without two of their best players in forward Jason Robertson and defenseman Miro Heiskanen.
This series was always going to be a 50-50 coin flip if both teams were healthy given how good both teams are and how evenly matched they are. But the Stars are clearly not healthy at the moment, and not having their best forward (Robertson) and defenseman (Heiskanen) is going to be a lot to overcome. It might be too much.
Colorado has to be encouraged by MacKenzie Blackwood Goaltending has been the big question mark for Colorado for a couple of years now, but they seem to have found a solution after acquiring Blackwood earlier this season. Even so, he entered Saturday having never appeared in an NHL playoff game. Until a goalie does, there is always going to be some uncertainty on how they will handle it.
Colorado has to be encouraged with Blackwood's performance in that context as he stopped 23 of the 24 Dallas shots he faced. The only goal he allowed came on a play where he lost his stick. Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh.
He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz.
