Winnipeg Jets captain Adam Lowry was mobbed by teammates as white-clad fans stood and roared after he tipped in the winning goal 16:10 into double overtime for a 4-3 NHL victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 on Sunday.
The Jets will face the Dallas Stars in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, starting Wednesday in the Manitoba capital. Winnipeg has never played the Stars in the post-season.
It was the third-longest Game 7 in NHL history at 96 minutes, 10 seconds.
Winnipeg was down 3-1 in the third period when veteran forward Vladislav Namestnikov scored with 1:56 remaining after his shot went in off Blues defenceman Ryan Suter.
With goalie Connor Hellebuyck pulled for the extra attacker, Winnipeg looked like it tied it up with 1:06 left but a review ruled the puck didn’t cross the goal line.
Cole Perfetti then scored his second redirected goal of the game with three seconds remaining to lift 15,225 frenzied white-clad fans out of their seats inside Canada Life Centre. Kyle Connor and Neal Pionk both had three assists for the Jets.
Winnipeg went on the power play 6:20 into the first overtime when St. Louis captain Brayden Schenn was called for delay of game. The Jets tried to pound the puck in the crease, but goalie Jordan Binnington covered it.
Binnington also stopped winger Nikolaj Ehlers on a breakaway. The Jets outshot the Blues 11-4 in the first extra session.
Hellebuyck finished with 26 saves. The finalist for the Vezina and Hart trophies was pulled in favour of backup Eric Comrie in the previous three games but made some key saves on Sunday.
The Jets lost top defenceman Josh Morrissey about eight minutes into the first period. They were already without star centre Mark Scheifele (upper-body injury) for a second straight game.
Winnipeg Jets fans celebrate the Jets third goal against the St. Louis Blues during third period NHL round one, game seven Stanley Cup playoff action in Winnipeg on Sunday. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press)
Winnipeg won the franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy after having a league-best 56-22-4 regular-season record and were the favourites against the eighth-seeded Blues.
The Jets jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, but ended up hosting the first-ever Game 7 in the city.
Jordan Kyrou scored on the Blues’ first shot of the game and Mathieu Joseph and Radek Faksa also had goals for the visitors. Binnington made 43 saves.
Kyrou scored at 1:10 after he and Colton Parayko went on the rush. Kyrou passed the puck across the front of the net to Parayko, who passed it back and Kyrou poked it by a stretched-out Hellebuyck. It marked the fastest goal to begin a Game 7 in Blues’ history.
Joseph made it 2-0 after picking up a loose puck dropped by Connor in the neutral zone. Using Morrissey as a screen, Joseph sent a wrist shot past Hellebuyck on the stick side at 7:16.
Morrissey went to the dressing soon after the goal. Earlier in the game, he got hit into the boards by Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist and appeared to be in pain as he sat on the bench. He didn’t return.
The Jets missed on a couple chances early in the second period, but got the game’s first power play and quickly made it count.
Seven seconds after Sundqvist was called for slashing, Connor sent the puck toward Perfetti at the side of the net and the Whitby, Ont., product redirected it by Binnington at 11:41.
St. Louis regained a two-goal lead after Ehlers lost the puck and Faksa beat Hellebuyck high over his glove with 34.1 seconds left in the second.
Playoff pasts
The Winnipeg/Atlanta Thrashers franchise is now 2-8 all-time when facing elimination. The other win came in Game 7 of their second-round series against the Nashville Predators in 2018. The original version of the Jets lost a pair of Game 7s on the road in 1990 and ’92.
It was St. Louis’s 19th all-time Game 7, the most among all non-Original NHL clubs. The franchise now sports a 10-9 record.
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