May 4, 2025 is a day Winnipeg Jets fans will never forget.
With the season slipping through their fingers, the Jets stormed back with two goals in the dying minutes before captain Adam Lowry scored the double overtime winner to lift Winnipeg to a 4-3 Game 7 win over the St. Louis Blues Sunday night.
The game couldn’t have started any worse for the Jets as St. Louis scored on their first shot of the game just 70 seconds in.
A defensive breakdown in the Winnipeg end created a 2-on-1 for the Blues. Jordan Kyrou passed it across to Colton Parayko and as Josh Morrissey and Connor Hellebuyck slid across to disrupt a possible Parayko shot, the tall blueliner passed it back to the middle where it redirected off Kyrou’s skate and into the open net.
It’s the third time in the series that the Blues scored on their first shot of the game. During the regular season, in 62 starts, Hellebuyck allowed a goal on the first shot of a game just three times.
A few minutes later, Morrissey took a hit from Oskar Sundqvist that left him labouring to get back to the bench. He would take another shift before heading to the room and did not return to the game.
But on that shift, Kyle Connor tried making a play at the Blues’ blue line before turning it over, leaving Mathieu Joseph to skate into the Winnipeg end against a backpedaling Morrissey. Joseph let a wrister go from distance that hit Morrissey’s stick as he released it, causing the puck to knuckle a bit. It fooled Hellebuyck to make it 2-0 at the 7:16 mark.
The Blues carried that lead into the second period after Winnipeg managed just three shots in a disconnected and nervous-looking opening 20 minutes.
The Jets showed signs of life in the second period, generating more chances and spending more time in the St. Louis end, leading to Winnipeg getting the game’s first power play with 8:26 left in the frame.
In desperate need of a spark, the power play took all of seven seconds to get the job done.
Gabriel Vilardi won the faceoff back to Neal Pionk, who slid the puck to Connor on the half-wall. He sent a firm pass down low that Cole Perfetti redirected high over the shoulder of Jordan Binnington to get Winnipeg on the board.
But the Jets couldn’t get to the end of the period without allowing another goal.
Nikolaj Ehlers couldn’t handle a pass near the St. Louis blue line, sparking an odd-man rush the other way. Nathan Walker carried the puck into the Winnipeg end before sending a cross-ice feed to Radek Faksa. He walked in and buried a wrister high over the glove of Hellebuyck for a backbreaking goal with 34 seconds remaining in the second.
It’s the fourth time in the series that Hellebuyck has allowed a goal in the final minute of a period after doing so just four times in 62 starts in the regular season.
The Blues outshot the Jets 10-9 in the middle frame and had a power play to start the third but Winnipeg managed to kill it off.
The Jets needed to push to try and save their season, and they had some looks in the first half of the third but a Lowry chance in close was blocked away and a shot from Connor near the net went wide.
With 3:16 left and the Jets still down by two, Winnipeg pulled Connor Hellebuyck for an extra attacker off a St. Louis icing and with 1:55 left, they brought the score within one. Vladislav Namestnikov’s shot from the faceoff dot redirected off two different Blues players and past Binnington to make it 3-2.
With 1:06 to go, the Jets had a very close call when there was a loose puck in the crease and the crowd thought it had crossed the goal line but Perfetti used his stick to jam Binnington’s pad behind the goal line so officials deemed it to be no goal, a call which was confirmed upon review.
But with just seconds left in the game, Perfetti came through in the biggest way. As the clock wound down, Ehlers fanned on a shot from the point but Lowry sent it back to Ehlers, who whipped a hard pass across the ice to Connor. Connor then sent a quick pass to the slot where Perfetti steered it into the net with 2.2 seconds on the clock, sending Canada Life Centre into delirium.
With the building still buzzing and everyone in attendance on their feet, the Jets controlled most of the play in the first overtime period but could not get one past Binnington. The best chance came from Ehlers who got in on a partial breakaway but couldn’t get a ton on the shot and was turned aside.
Winnipeg outshot St. Louis 11-4 in the first OT frame and 26-8 combined in the third period and the first OT.
The second OT period was more of the same, though it seemed like the game might be destined for a third overtime frame before the captain sent the faithful home happy.
After a lengthy shift in the Blues end, the puck was cycled down low to Connor before he banked the puck to the point where Pionk sent a shot towards the net that was tipped by Lowry and into the goal at the 16:10 mark of the second OT frame, becoming the second captain in NHL history to score an overtime winner in a Game 7.
Hellebuyck stood tall when he needed to, making 26 saves in the win while Binnington did all he could to withstand the Jets late-game onslaught, turning aside 43 shots in defeat.
With Morrissey playing only 2:09 in the game, the other five Winnipeg blueliners logged big minutes, most of all Pionk who racked up a whopping 46:15, nearly half of the game that lasted 96:10.
The Jets do not have much time to rest up before opening what should be an intense second round matchup with the Dallas Stars, who had their own Game 7 comeback win Saturday night over Colorado.
The series will start Wednesday night in Winnipeg with Game 1 beginning around 8:50 p.m.