Familiar formidable foe

Motivation can come in many shapes and sizes. For the St. Louis Blues, it’s apparently in the form of a tiny, wild-haired, cigarette-smoking voodoo doll.

Meet Jobu, the unofficial team MVP who began popping up in their locker room immediately after the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Is it a coincidence that the Blues have gone on a 18-2-2 tear since, including a 12-game winning streak heading into action Monday night against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre?

“He’s a good guy,” is all St. Louis captain Brayden Schenn would reveal to the Free Press when asked about Jobu, who even accompanies them on the road and had his own locker room stall and nameplate set up Monday.

Schenn was then quizzed whether Jobu is the 2025 equivalent to Gloria, the song by Laura Branigan that became their victory anthem as they went on an incredible mid-season surge all the way to winning the Stanley Cup in 2019.

“Jobu’s a good man,” said Brayden, clearly sworn to some kind of team secrecy about saying too much.

Hey, whatever works.

Jobu is likely not a stranger to many sports fans, having first appeared in the 1989 movie Major League. One of the fictional baseball players in the film, Pedro Cerrano was a Cuban refugee who had the doll in his stall and would worship him and pray to him before hitting the field. He ultimately ended up being a good luck charm.

It would appear the Blues are hoping for a similar result. So far, so good.

BLUES DEJA VU? Get off to a terrible start? Check. Fire the head coach during the season? Check. Go on a sensational surge down the stretch? Check.

Is 2025 going to be 2019 all over again for the Blues?

“There are only five of us left off that team and it feels completely different with different guys but there are some similarities,” said Brayden.

“How hard guys are playing for one another and how hard the guys are playing defensively. Obviously the win streak has similarities but that was five or six years ago. It is a completely different mindset in the room right now and we have to write our own story.”

The Jets are quite familiar with that previous incarnation, given that they had the unfortunate task of trying to stop the Blues in the opening round that year — and were quickly punted out of the playoffs in six games.

“You look back at their team in ’19 that went on that run and followed a similar path. I’m sure that guys that are still on that team are feeling similar vibes,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey.

“What they’ve done is impressive, and certainly the streak that they’re on is impressive. I guess the other 15 teams come playoff time are trying to not repeat what happened when they won the cup in ’19.”

BROTHERLY LOVE: It was another battle of Brayden vs Luke on Monday night as the Schenn brothers faced off in Winnipeg.

Naturally, the topic of previous on-ice meetings between the skaters, who both surpassed 1,000 career games respectively earlier this year, was broached.

Brayden recalled how, in his first year of junior hockey with the Brandon Wheat Kings, he faced Luke and his Kelowna Rockets and paid a painful price.

“He got me and my linemate pretty good. He ran us over,” Brayden said of that 2007 encounter.

Then there was the NHL game a few years ago, where Brayden’s Blues faced Luke’s Vancouver Canucks. Brayden had just returned to action after suffering broken ribs and took a vicious crosscheck in the corner from his own flesh and blood.

“He was looking for me after the game and I was getting an X-ray to see where it was at. He apologized 100 times but that is just who he is,” Brayden recalled with a chuckle.

Their father wasn’t quite as forgiving, calling up Luke to read him the riot act.

“He said ‘What the hell were you thinking?’ I said ‘I wasn’t,’” Luke said Monday.

All kidding aside, their bond is strong and both men were excited about the possibility of meeting in the playoffs for the first time this spring, with the Blues and Jets a potential first-round matchup.

“It has definitely been talked about,” said Brayden.

While Brayden admits his hockey teams have traditionally gotten the better of Luke’s over the years, there’s one thing his older brother has over him — two Stanley Cups compared to his one.

“It is always a little bit different playing each other because I feel when you are in the game you are worried about yourself and your team at the same time you see your brother out there with the puck your mind watches him a little bit more closely than any other player in the league,” said Brayden.

“Obviously, we don’t take these moments for granted. We have had a lot of battles with each other.”

INJURY UPDATES: There was some good news on the injury front Monday that went beyond Nikolaj Ehlers returning to action after missing Saturday’s game in Utah with a lower-body issue.

Jets defenceman Neal Pionk, who has missed the past 12 games, was a full participant at morning skate and could return as early as Thursday’s game in Dallas.

Centre Rasmus Kupari, who has missed the past five games with a concussion, took part in a conditioning skate as part of his return-to-play protocol.

And forward Gabe Vilardi, who has missed the last seven games with an upper-body injury, is now doing off-ice workouts and, according to head coach Scott Arniel, is “getting close to seeing about him going on the ice. He’s up and running here a little bit more.”

Although Vilardi remains week-to-week, that certainly increases optimism he could be ready for the start of the playoffs.

WELCOME TO WINNIPEG: The Jets signed 18-year-old prospect Kieron Walton to his first NHL contract Monday — a standard three-year entry-level deal that kicks in next fall.

Walton, selected in the sixth round (187th-overall) last summer, is coming off a sensational year with the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League. The six-foot-six, 216-pound forward had 92 points (38G, 54A) in 66 regular-season games, which is a mammoth jump from 43 points (18G, 25A) in 65 games last year.

Walton also had a goal and four assists in four playoff games as his Wolves were swept in the first round by the Kingston Frontenacs. He’s now signed an amateur tryout to join the Manitoba Moose for the duration of this season, which would allow him to get a taste of pro hockey down the stretch.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg