ST. LOUIS — Jeff and Rita Schenn have a problem, one they couldn’t have anticipated dealing with as recent as a few days ago.

But as parents of two NHLers, Brayden Schenn of the St. Louis Blues and Luke Schenn of the Winnipeg Jets, they have sons who will oppose each other in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time.

It’s a story that received rapid fire the moment that Luke was traded to the Jets by the Pittsburgh Penguins at the NHL Trade Deadline on March 7. Luke started the season with the Nashville Predators, was traded to Pittsburgh just two days prior to being dealt to the Jets. The 35-year-old was on two non-playoff teams, and with 33-year-old Brayden and the Blues still in the unknown whether they were going to be able to do what they did, set a franchise record with 12 straight wins and gain entry into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season when the Blues trounced Utah Hockey Club, 6-1, the attention immediately turned to two brothers who are like best friends.

“It’s a weird situation,” Brayden said. “You never really expect it with all the teams in the league and where he was at the start of the year, and here we are, St. Louis facing Winnipeg. We’ve been throughout a lot, both of us throughout our careers, and this one just adds to it. It’s going to be … I don’t even know how to describe it. We’re both physical guys and we both play physical in the playoffs, so anything can happen. We might get some screaming by mom and dad if we go too hard.”

The parents know what’s at stake. They’ve been to enough of their sons’ games to know the circumstances, with each playing his 1,000th game this season. So there’s plenty of experience to go around and rinks they’ve followed their boys in, even ones when they were teammates with the Philadelphia Flyers for 3.5 seasons from 2012-2016.

But as oppositions, never before.

“Yeah, it’s the first time for sure,” Luke said. “And obviously looking down the stretch and obviously when the Blues started heating up there, I was cheering for Brayden and hoping that he’d get the opportunity to get in. Obviously it was a bit of a crazy deadline, and he was in the mix of some (trade) chatter. And it’s kind of worked out where the team kind of got hot down the stretch and he ended up being a huge part of that. And like I told you last time, I’m biased, but he’s the leader of that group and I think did a good job. Like I said I was cheering for him down the stretch, realizing it could be a possibility of playing against one another. Not that we were necessarily hoping for that, but it’s worked out that way. And it’s going to be game on … starting tomorrow.”

So … how are mom and dad going to handle this? Will they wear jerseys? One wearing one son’s, the other, wearing the other son’s? Do they somehow get half-and-half ones made? How do they cheer this series?

So many questions.

“It’s been talked about,” Brayden said after scoring his 18th goal Tuesday to finish with 50 or more points (32 assists) for the eighth time in his career. “They’re just proud that they have two sons in the NHL and get a chance to watch them in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Just looking forward to seeing the smile on their faces and just enjoying watching their sons out there.”

When the puck drops, the brothers know what’s at stake. They’ll know what to do. But it will be hard for Jeff and Rita.

“It will be. Yeah, for sure,” Luke said. “My dad always says when we play during the regular season, he says he just wants us to take it overtime and then it’s up to us to figure it out. And now, I don’t know. Either way, they’re going to have someone walking away into the second round, so I guess that’s a positive. But yeah, I don’t even know what to think or what they’re thinking. They’re probably just cheering for us individually and they’ll be supportive any which way. I haven’t really talked.”

Even Luke had to laugh when he heard from his younger sisters, Madison and Macy.

“I just got a couple texts even from my sisters (Madison and Macy) last night, saying, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,'” he said. “I’ll talk more to them in the coming days here.”

It’s no secret that the Schenn brothers are close, so much so, that they talk almost daily on a regular basis. Now that they’re mere days away from squaring off, how will that work?

“That’s something I guess we’ll have to talk about,” Brayden said. “I haven’t really gotten that far yet. Yeah, we do talk every day. We all know the story, I’m proud of him how he’s battled this long and he plays a hard, physical game. The playoffs are going to be no different. That’s our job and at the end of the day it’s for the Stanley Cup and you’ve got to play hard for your team and your teammates. I guess we’ll have to figure that out in the next four days.”

Luke added, “We talked this morning on the way to the rink. Just congratulated him, obviously, on getting in. Like I said, it’s not something that we were hoping and wishing for. I was joking around with him earlier, if I was still in Nashville I’d be cheering for the Blues, right? Obviously things have totally changed and I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this group heading into the playoffs. And like I said, I wouldn’t say you dream of it, playing against your brother in the Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s not really something that ever crossed our minds. Played with one another in Philadelphia in the playoffs, but never against each other.

“I think as far as communication goes, we’ll get through tonight and then, yeah, probably not chat much, or at all, once the playoffs start. Which is good. He doesn’t need to know what’s going on with our team, and vice-versa. He’s the captain there, he’s not going to be passing along any inside information, obviously. It’s a strange one. Obviously, like I said, we talk pretty much daily throughout the course of the regular season. I would say we’re pretty in the know and in the mix, in terms of what’s going on with each other’s teams, for the most part. And this is just going to be a totally different scenario.”

As parents, if there’s one thing Jeff and Rita Schenn should know is that TV cameras can catch them at any time, so it would probably be best to be as secluded on the outside as possible.

“I think they’ll be pretty neutral,” Luke said. “They’re not going to be wearing jerseys. I don’t see them ever wearing a jersey to the games. I

“I don’t know, maybe my dad will be switching between a Jets and a Blues hat every TV timeout or something like that.”