Jets close out back-and-forth series against Blues with epic Game 7 comeback

WINNIPEG -- The Winnipeg Jets filed into the locker room after the second period trailing the St. Louis Blues 3-1, but forward Nikolaj Ehlers said nobody was hanging their heads.

“We looked at each other and said, ‘We’re not done playing hockey yet,’” he said. “And we said that after the third and after the first OT that we want to keep playing hockey.”

The Jets were determined to rewrite the narrative of their recent Stanley Cup Playoff history, and they couldn’t have done it in more dramatic fashion than with their 4-3 double overtime win against the Blues at Canada Life Centre on Sunday.

Their determination to keep playing in Game 7 is why they’ve advanced to the second round for the first time since 2021. They’ll host the Dallas Stars in Game 1 on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN).

“Yeah, it’s incredibly special,” said Jets captain and St. Louis native Adam Lowry, who deflected defenseman Neal Pionk’s shot past Jordan Binnington at 16:10 of the second overtime for the winner.

“I probably dreamt it was a little nicer than just going off my leg, but it’s one of those things, on the outdoor rink, in the driveway, you dream about being the hero in a Game 7 and giving yourself a chance to continue chasing a Stanley Cup. To do it in Winnipeg at home, we have such tremendous fans, such tremendous support, just really happy we get to continue playing in front of them. They’ve been such a blessing for us all year.”

Sunday was the third-longest Game 7 in NHL history. It was also the 14th Game 7 that needed multiple overtimes, including the fifth in the past 20 years, and the latest since Game 7 between the Blues and Stars in the 2019 Western Conference Second Round.

“The hardest thing in the NHL is to win the first round. It really is,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “You build confidence as you can, but it’s so hard to get through that first round. There’s a lot of doubt at times, there’s obviously lots of excitement, but for our group, just for me in the sense of being here in just the three years, to lose in those first rounds, those were heartbreaking.

“Last year, obviously with the season we had, to do it this year we didn’t want to go out. That was one of the messages I said to these guys, ‘Bring your best game forward and have no regrets,’ and that’s what it was all about. And that’s what I thought, that after we got through the first, that’s what happened. Nobody wanted to be done, nobody wanted to be done playing this year, and that was special.”

Overtime, let alone two of them, seemed an impossible scenario with two minutes remaining in regulation. The Blues were up 3-1, Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck was on the bench, the Jets were on a 6-on-5 and scrambling to salvage something, anything, to keep their playoff hopes alive. Vladislav Namestnikov, who had shot wide on two earlier opportunities in the game, didn’t miss with 1:56 remaining, however, to get the Jets to within one at 3-2.

As the clock ticked toward zero, Cole Perfetti, who had played one NHL postseason game entering the series, was in the slot to tie it with three seconds remaining. Perfetti was swarmed in the corner as Binnington lay face down on the ice, the arena erupting in jubilation.

“Yeah, that one stinks,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. “Just from a two-goal lead and two 6-on-5 goals against and a second and a half away from closing out the series. … [Stinks]. It's brutal. We had a good group in there that played hard for one another all year, and there's no other words to really describe that one.”

This game also featured the last matchup between the two goalies in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship in February. In that 4 Nations title game in Boston, it was Blues goalie Jordan Binnington and Canada besting Hellebuyck and the United States in overtime.

On Sunday, Hellebuyck, who struggled through most of this series and was pulled in all three away games, looked shaky early, giving up a goal just 1:10 into the game, and another at 7:16 of first. But after he allowed Radek Faksa to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead at 19:25 of the second period, he once again looked like the guy who has won the Vezina Trophy twice as the League’s top goalie and could win it again this season stopping the next 13 shots he faced.

It was a taxing game for all involved, but especially for five Jets defensemen, who had to log big minutes after Josh Morrissey left the game with a little more than seven minutes gone in the first period.

Pionk had 46:15 of ice time, the most in a game by a Jets player in their history. His previous postseason career high was 41:08 on April 22, 2023, when the Jets lost to the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 in double overtime in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round. Dylan Samberg played 44:00, nearly 20 minutes more than he had in his previous career high (24:30 in Game 2 against the Blues on April 21).

“I mean, to play this long of a game with five defensemen, it's pretty incredible. So, hats off to those guys. They stuck with it. They battled,” Ehlers said. “As forwards, we tried to help out as much as possible with getting pucks out of our zone so they could get some quick changes. But those guys stuck with it, battled their (butts) off and stepped up.”

Sunday’s thriller was the epitome of what Game 7 is all about: nerves, pressure, big hits, bigger goals, incredible moments, deflation, elation and every other emotion in between. This one had all of it. As Blues coach Jim Montgomery met Arniel in the handshake line, the two friends commended each other on a series and Game 7 that provided it all.

"I just said congratulations and what an [unbelievable] series,” Montgomery said. “It was a physical series. I told him, the chess game we played as staffs, it was just fun to be a part of, and that's what makes the NHL playoffs so great.”