ST. LOUIS — This one is going to sting for a while.
Yes, there was plenty of shock inside the Winnipeg Jets room following a surprisingly early playoff exit, a development few predicted when the puck dropped on the 2018-19 season. The club was viewed as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, and that didn’t seem to change despite numerous regular-season stumbles which should have been setting off alarm bells.
Instead, a 3-2 loss on Saturday night in St. Louis sealed their fate, a disappointing six-game series defeat to a team that sat in the NHL basement around Christmas.