Game 5 of the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues first round series is set for Thursday Night at Bell MTS Place, one of the loudest buildings in the NHL.
But do the fans, noise, and the home ice actually give the Jets an advantage?
As of Wednesday, out of all 31 games played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, home teams have won 17 games, while the away teams have won 14.
But Jets Captain Blake Wheeler knows just how important the crowd can be to sway momentum in a game.
“Our fans are going to be going,” said Wheeler after the team’s overtime win Tuesday night.
“I want to see those guys going like I’ve never seen them before for Game 5 … We’re excited to get back home.”
680 CJOB Sports Director Kelly Moore said it’s not always about home-ice advantage, but the advantage of just being at home.
“You’re not in a hotel, you got all your team services available at your beck and call,” said Moore. “But the one thing that you don’t have at home is that complete focus on the job at hand.”
Home-ice advantage was also hard to come by for the Jets as well.
During their second round series with Nashville in 2018, the Predators won two of the three games at Bell MTS Place, while Winnipeg won three out of the four games at Bridgestone Arena.
The Jets are looking to pull ahead in the series Thursday night before heading back to St. Louis for Game 6 Saturday.
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