Jets dig deep for stunning comeback

File this one under you had to see it to believe it.

With the Winnipeg Jets less than three seconds away from seeing this magical season come to a premature end, Cole Perfetti provided the equalizer to send Game 7 to overtime.

That’s where a new hero emerged, with Jets captain Adam Lowry getting to the front of the net to deflect a point shot from Neal Pionk at 16:10 of the second overtime to cap a 4-3 victory on Sunday before a stunned crowd at Canada Life Centre.

In a year that was supposed to be different, the Jets showed a flair for the dramatic that has not been seen around these parts since the franchise returned to River City in 2011.

To say it was the most important series victory in franchise history wouldn’t be accurate, given the Game 7 triumph on the road against the Nashville Predators, but it’s not far behind.

Especially when you consider the consecutive first-round exits in 2023 and 2024.

The best way to change the narrative about the Jets not being able to get out of the first round was to get out of the first round.

“You know what, I think we hear about it more than we truly believe it,” said Lowry. “It’s nice to kind of have those questions put to rest, (about) can this team get out of the first round? “I’m just excited that our group gets to continue with this opportunity. We’ve worked really hard all year, we’ve put in a lot of time and had a great regular season. I’m just happy that the good guys were able to prevail and we can move on.”

Moving on to face the Dallas Stars is the reward for ousting the Blues.

A group that prided itself all year long on raising their level for the biggest games delivered one more exclamation point to open the door for more of them to occur.

For all the talk about building calluses, the Jets dug deep before the clock struck midnight on this Cinderella season.

“The hardest thing in the NHL is to win the first round. It really is,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “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 heart breaking.

“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.”

This was a rally for the ages, one that required digging deep after falling behind 2-0 by the time this deciding game was just over seven minutes old.

A plucky Blues team that had given the Jets all it could handle in this battle clearly had the upper hand.

Instead of rolling over and going out meekly, the Jets tapped into belief they had built over the course of the previous 88 games.

They pushed the pace without raising the risk profile.

They stuck to the structure, yet found a way to get on the attack.

“We gave it everything we had, down to the last second.”– Jets centre Cole Perfetti

And with the goalie out in favour of an extra attacker, the Jets score not once, but twice – bringing a roar inside the building that hadn’t been heard in the 2.0 version of the franchise.

The equalizer required a bit of good fortune after Nikolaj Ehlers fanned on a slapshot attempt moments earlier.

With the goalie on the bench in favour of an extra attacker and the clock winding down close to the expiration date of the seventh and deciding game, Ehlers showed plenty of gumption in firing a cross-ice pass to Kyle Connor.

Recognizing that time was of the essence, Connor unloaded a shot towards the slot that was redirected home by Perfetti.

It was the second tip-in goal by Perfetti, the first coming on a second-period power play that allowed the Jets to pull within one at 11:41 of the second period.

The emergence of Perfetti down the stretch is something the Jets have come to appreciate.

A year ago, he was a healthy scratch in four of the five games against the Colorado Avalanche, yet in this series he showed once again that he’s graduated from secondary scorer to primary point producer.

Playing without top-line centre Mark Scheifele, who missed a second straight game with an undisclosed injury, the Jets needed to help fill the offensive void.

Mission accomplished.

As he’d done throughout the series, there was Connor delivering in the clutch.

Not only did he supply the game-winning goal in Games 1 and 2, he set up Vladislav Namestnikov for the game-winner in Game 5 after Scheifele departed.

Turns out Connor wasn’t done delivering, as he chipped in another assist on Lowry’s series-clincher to allow him to finish this series with four goals and 12 points.

Namestnikov had been under fire for going quiet offensively down the stretch.

Before his game-winner, it had been 20 games since Namestnikov had lit the lamp.

That had reignited some of the chatter about the Jets’ inability to secure a second-line centre to go with defenceman Luke Schenn and feisty forward Brandon Tanev at the NHL trade deadline.

With the season on the line, there was Namestnikov – who signed a two-year extension in March with a modest raise – coming up with another memorable marker.

This one also came with the net empty and the Jets trailing 3-1.

Without Namestnikov’s shot that caromed in off the skate of Blues D-man Ryan Suter, talk would have turned to another missed opportunity rather than an incredible comeback.

That the Jets lost top defenceman Josh Morrissey in the first period on what appeared to be a shoulder injury makes the remarkable rally even more impressive.

Playing without the Norris Trophy candidate, each of the five remaining blue-liners did a remarkable job.

Pionk helped on the offensive side, pitching in with three assists.

Dylan Samberg and Dylan DeMelo made a bunch of outstanding defensive plays and the revamped third pairing of Luke Schenn and Haydn Fleury did an excellent job.

“The hardest thing in the NHL is to win the first round. It really is. 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.”– Jets head coach Scott Arniel

This was Schenn’s best game of the series. Not only did he figure prominently in the hit parade, he moved the puck efficiently and defended very well.

Fleury came out of the bullpen for just the second time of the series and utilized his superior skating to do a great job in all three zones.

A defence corps that is often viewed as being greater than the sum of its individual parts got the job done.

When Jets head coach Scott Arniel said at various points they would need everybody on the back end, he wasn’t kidding – as they used eight of the nine healthy bodies on the blue line in this series.

This story wouldn’t be complete without mention of Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who was also under the microscope after getting pulled in all three road games of this series.

Even with enjoying the comforts of home ice, Hellebuyck allowed two goals on the first four shots that he faced and then gave up a third to Radek Faksa with just 34.1 seconds to go in the second period after the Jets had mostly dominated the middle frame.

But after surrendering the third goal, Hellebuyck demonstrated a renewed confidence that had been lacking at times in the series.

Hellebuyck didn’t let another goal in and that’s one of the many reasons the Jets were able to keep this season alive.

By outdueling Binnington in this duel, Hellebuyck may have exorcised a few playoff demons of his own.

For a team with championship aspirations, this is merely the first step on the journey towards the 16 wins that are required to get to the top of the mountain.

But until the next round begins, you can be sure this group is going to enjoy the fact that they don’t have to spend the coming days worrying about what might have been and having to answer questions about what would have gone down as another lost season.

“We gave it everything we had, down to the last second,” said Perfetti. “Obviously missing some guys and guys stepping up and playing bigger roles, there’s no quit in this team. We never had any doubt. 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. This is a special group and tonight’s a good picture of what this group is like and how there’s no quit in here. Even when it’s looking like hard times for us, we battle through and it’s awesome to be a part of it.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld