A funny thing happened on the way to the most excruciating loss in Winnipeg Jets history. Magically, it transformed into arguably the most exhilarating win. If you weren’t there, you would not have believed it. Actually, even if you had been there, you still may not have believed what had transpired on Sunday night at the Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg.
It was Game 7. The President’s Trophy winning Winnipeg Jets were down and out. The St. Louis Blues led, 3-1, with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. Silence enveloped the crowd. The mood: Pleading desperation.
The odds of a win were scant by this point. Indeed, St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington had been lights out in similar situations in recent memory.
The Jets were also painfully thin in manpower. Winnipeg played almost the entire game with five defencemen. Top blueliner Josh Morrissey
was injured after just playing just two minutes. Also, the Jets had to cope without top line center Mark Scheifele.
Anatomy of a Miracle: Part 1
With goaltender Connor Hellebuyck on the bench for an extra attacker, a Vlad Namestnikov shot deflected off of Ryan Suter and into the Blues net with 1:56 remaining in regulation. The deficit was down to 3-2.
Even so, time was running out. The clock ticked down below 10 seconds. Five seconds remained. In a chaotic sequence, Cole Perfetti tipped in a Kyle Connor feed to tie the game at 2-2. A mere 2.2 seconds were left on the clock: the latest tying goal scored in NHL playoff Game 7 history.
Anatomy of a Miracle: Part 2
When overtime began, the Jets came out guns blazing. The Blues still seemed shocked, while Jets’ emotions were sky high. In fact, Jets fans throughout Winnipeg were ecstatic throughout intermission and then very nervous anew.
The Jets peppering Binnington with shots and even got an overtime power play when Brayden Schenn put the puck over the glass from the defensive zone. Although they didn’t end the game on the PP in sudden death, the ice was clearly tilted in their favor. When the Blues did get a quality chance, Hellebuyck was there to shut the door.
Even some the first overtime periods was scoreless. The game went to double OT. Fifteen minutes of play elapsed.
Lowry Ends the Exquisite Torture
With just under four minutes left in the second overtime, the game ended. Jets captain Adam Lowry tipped in a Neal Pionk point shot to complete a comeback for the ages and win the series for the Jets 4-3. The 15,225 fans in attendance celebrated, as did the nearly 5,000 spectators attending the White-Out party outside the arena. It was a storybook ending to a series with so many momentum turns.
