The Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues played one of the longest Game 7s on record Sunday night. After winning all three games at home to keep their season alive, the Blues came out to a strong start on Sunday, holding a 3-1 lead with just two minutes remaining in the third period. But while St. Louis appeared all but certain to upset the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Jets, Winnipeg scored two goals in 1:53 to force overtime.
Winnipeg’s game-tying goal, scored by 23-year-old Cole Perfetti, came with just 2.2 seconds to go. Playing at six-on-five with the net empty, Perfetti tipped in a shot from Kyle Connor to send the crowd both inside and outside of Canada Life Centre to its feet. The game stretched on even further in overtime — the Jets held an 11-4 lead in shots in the first extra frame, but neither team hit the back of their net before the game went to double overtime.
With less than four minutes to go in the second overtime period, Jets captain Adam Lowry played the hero, scoring the game-winning goal to end the series. Neal Pionk shot from the blue line and Lowry, screening Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington, deflected the puck into the net to complete the Jets’ storybook comeback.
Even before Lowry’s series-winning goal, the Jets and Blues had already etched their names into the NHL’s record books. Only 50 Game 7s have extended past regulation and just 14 have gone to double overtime, with the last coming between the Blues and Dallas Stars in the second round of the 2019 playoffs. By the time Lowry scored, the contest had become the third-longest Game 7 in NHL history, stretching to a total of 96:10. The Jets double OT thriller was the longest Game 7 since the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals set the record with a quadruple-overtime game in 1987, playing for 128:47.
"It’s one of those things you dream of in the driveway," Lowry said. "To do it at home, in front of our fans—it’s really special." The win gave Winnipeg its first series victory since the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. The Jets will face the Dallas Stars, who won their own Game 7 against the Colorado Avalanche, in the second round. They’ll kick off the series with Game 1 in Winnipeg on Wednesday night.
The first home playoff Game 7 in Winnipeg hockey history lived up to all the hype on Sunday, and then went about three steps further. A third-period Winnipeg Jets comeback, a tying goal in the dying seconds, and double-overtime – how’s that for starters?
After a first period that raised all kinds of questions about the Jets’ ability to handle the moment – they gave up a goal barely a minute in and left it trailing 2-0 – the NHL’s top team during the regular season pulled a rabbit out of its hat late in the third and won it, 4-3, in the second overtime.
“Amazing. Absolutely amazing,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “I’ve seen a lot of hockey games. That was one of the most exciting games I’ve been a part of. Anyone watching that one, it’ll be in the memory bank for a long time.”
The hero: Captain Adam Lowry, on a deflection off his leg with 3:50 to go in the second OT, capping the third-longest Game 7 in Stanley Cup playoff history and sending the Jets to Round 2 against Dallas. “Incredibly special,” Lowry said. “I probably dreamed it was a little nicer than just going off my leg. 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.”
There was more than one hero on this night. Trailing 3-1 and with Connor Hellebuyck on the bench for an extra attacker, Vlad Namestnikov gave his team one last gasp of hope, his shot deflecting off a skate and past Jordan Binnington with 1:55 left. The Jets nearly tied it on a goal-mouth scramble with 1:06 to go, Cole Perfetti’s attempt getting lost in Binnington’s gear before trickling to, but not over, the goal line. That would do it. Except it didn’t.
Call what happened next the muff that roared. Or the whiff that helped win Game 7. Winnipeg Jets winger Nik Ehlers was having a rough night handling the puck, but one mishandling led to a moment Winnipeg hockey fans won’t soon forget. Trailing 3-2 with the final seconds ticking away and the Jets simply whacking at the puck in a desperate attempt to get it to the net, Ehlers fanned on a slap shot. The puck went to Lowry, who gave it right back to Ehlers at the point.
“I thought, I’m not gonna let that happen again,” Ehlers said. “And I knew KC was over there. If we can get the goalie moving just a little bit, we might be able to create something.” Given a second chance, Ehlers made the decision to pass it across to Kyle Connor, who one-timed it to the front of the net where Perfetti got his stick on the deflection heard ’round Manitoba. Perfetti’s second of the night came with Hellebuyck out of the net again and less than three seconds on the clock. That nearly blew a hole in the roof and put Perfetti in the history books: it was the latest Game 7, game-tying goal in league history.
“It was incredible,” the 23-year old said. “No quit. Guys were exhausted but fought until the last second and we got it done. Even down 3-1, there was no doubt. We had belief in one another and belief that we were going to come back. I’m just so proud of this group and so proud to be a part of it.”
The mayhem continued in overtime, the Jets buzzing the Blues zone one minute, handing them a glorious chance the next. A puck over the glass handed the Jets a power play. An Ehlers breakaway, followed by a quick Blues break the other way. Dangerous shots through traffic. Near misses and dramatic defensive plays. Players like Brandon Tanev throwing himself in front of shots. It was one high-drama moment after another, two vastly different seasons hanging in the balance.
Winnipeg was one of the NHL’s top teams from pillar to post, the Presidents’ Trophy winners desperate to validate their playoff credentials. St. Louis stumbled out of the gate, fired its coach, and made a late-season charge. The conference’s eighth seed up against its No. 1. The series itself was head-scratching in its extremes, the Jets winning close games at home, blown out on the road. The first and third periods were similar extremes, Winnipeg out-shot 7-3 in the former, out-shooting the visitors 15-4 in the latter.
“The nerves,” Arniel said of the start. “It seemed nobody wanted to make a play.” If the quick, two-goal deficit wasn’t bad enough, Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey left the game right after the second goal and didn’t return, the victim of a hit on a previous shift. The Jets wanted and needed a good start. Instead, it was a disaster.
“There’s 40 minutes to go and we hadn’t even started to go yet,” Arniel said. It took a second-period power play for the Jets to get on the board, Perfetti’s slick deflection from a sharp angle sneaking over Binnington’s short-side shoulder. But Winnipeg’s momentum crashed and burned in the last minute of the second. When Ehlers couldn’t handle a pass in the neutral zone, the Blues had a three-on-two that saw fourth-liner Radek Faksa beat Hellebuyck over his shoulder from a sharp angle.
“Nobody was hanging their heads,” Ehlers insisted. “We looked at each other and said we’re not done playing hockey yet.” It wasn’t the first time the Jets allowed a goal late in a period of this series. It felt like a back-breaker this time.
“It kind of feels like it’s an insurmountable lead, 3-1 late,” Lowry acknowledged. “It’s never over until it’s over, right,” Arniel said. “You could hear it on the bench, you could hear it in the room. It was guys saying, ‘Just stay with it, keep with it.'”
When Lowry and then Connor missed chances with Binnington down and out in the first half of the third, the Jets’ fate seemed sealed. In Game 7s, though, things aren’t always as they seem. We’ll give the last word to Blues coach Jim Montgomery, who had this to say to Arniel in the handshake line: “What an effing series.” The next one against the Stars begins Wednesday.
