NHL Playoffs: Western Conference first round predictions

Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty ImagesFirst, if you haven’t joined our NHL Bracket Challenge, don’t rip these predictions off. Or go ahead and take ‘em, what can I do about it. But join anyways and make your own selections.

We’ll start with the Western Conference today, since it has the first two games of the playoffs kicking off tonight.

Winnipeg Jets (1st Central) vs. St. Louis Blues (Wild Card 2)

This might be one of the more blasé matchups that isn’t drawing a lot of buzz, so maybe it will surprise by giving some juice.

The Jets enter the playoffs with a league-high 56 wins and 116 points in the standings. The Blues made the postseason in large part due to a late-season 12 game…