The Miracle on Portage Avenue: Jets Come Back to Win Game 7 in Double OT

JETS OFF TO SECOND ROUND OF PLAYOFFS WITH 4-3 DOUBLE OT WIN IN GAME 7

Like a miracle, the Winnipeg Jets are moving on to Round 2 of the Stanely Cup playoffs.

And you had to be there. You just had to experience a 4-3 double overtime victory in Game 7 because it doesn’t happen every day.

Wow! When Vlad Namestnikov scored at 18:05 of the third period and the St. Louis Blues ahead of the Jets 3-1, Canada Life Centre awakened with a roar.

But when Cole Perfetti scored with 1.6 seconds remaining in regulation time to tie the game at 3-3, you’d have thought a tornado went through downtown Winnipeg. The roar was guttural. It started slowly, a little high-pitched at first, and then turned into thunder.

A Winnipeg Jets team that appeared to have nothing left in the tank, a team without its two best players, Josh Morrissey and Mark Scheifele, had just come back from a 3-1 deficit against the determined St. Louis Blues -- with less than 2 ½ minutes to play -- and tied Game 7 of the Divisional semifinal at 3-3.

"It's the kind of thing you dream about as a kid," Lowry said afterward. "I mean, you don't dream about it going in off your leg, but you dream about scoring the winning goal in overtime in a Game 7."

Inside the Canada Life Centre, it was as loud as anything I’ve ever heard in my life. The building actually shook.

In fact, calling it the Miracle on Portage Ave. would not be stretching things too much.

After all, in the third period, this Jets team was downtrodden, beaten up, one of their top players was obviously playing hurt – at times Nikolaj Ehlers could barely skate – and yet, even without their two best players, they’d somehow made a game of it.

Here are some numbers:

1.   19:58 of the third period was the latest time a team had scored to tie a Game 7 in Stanley Cup history.

2.   Neal Pionk played 46 minutes and 15 seconds and had three assists.

3.   Kyle Connor assisted on three Jets goals including Perfetti’s tying goal and Lowry’s winner.

5.   The Jets were outshot 7-3 in the first period, but were never outshot again. In fact, in the first period, St. Louis took a 2-0 lead, and the Jets looked like they were out of it. But this team never gives up and it never surrenders.

Sunday night at Canada Life Centre, the St. Louis Blues appeared as if they were going to coast into the second round of the playoffs, but that's when the Jets tied it with only a wisp of a moment to play.

In a building filled the building with loud, screaming white-clad fans -- fans who absolutely adore them – the Jets gave them more than they could ever have imagined. It was the comeback of the Century and maybe the greatest game ever played at Canada Life Centre.

Jordan Kyrou scored for the Blues at 1:10 of the first and then Mathieu Joseph scored on a shot that Hellebuyck simply fanned on at 7:16 and the rest of the game for the Jets - without Morrissey and Scheifele -- was as difficult as it could possibly be. Vlad Namestnikov missed an open net, Gabriel Vilardi had a couple of good chances but couldn’t beat Jordan Binnington and Kyle Connor was around the net all night but was not rewarded.

In the third period, there were churches in Winnipeg that were louder on Sunday than Winnipeg’s downtown rink, but when Namestnikov scored at 18:05, there was a roar -- and a chance.

When Perfetti scored, it was absolutely insane.

After that brilliant President’s Trophy-winning season and all the wonderful nights at the Canada Life Centre this winter. After Hellebuyck’s brilliance and the scoring prowess of Scheifele, Connor, Ehlers (who had to be hurt because he could barely skate) and Vilardi, the Jets had been run out of St. Louis and it looked like they were going to be run out of their own barn, but there was no quit in them.

This tremendous team built by Kevin Cheveldayoff found a way to win.

Of course, things got even worse in Game 7 when Montgomery’s plan worked again. Morrissey was taken out midway through the first period of the final game and never returned. The Jets are not the same team without their best defenceman.

By the way, for those who don’t want to believe that wasn’t the plan, you just had to listen to the post-game interviews after Game 5. Montgomery made it clear that Schenn didn’t take out Scheifele, but Faksa did. Somebody was going to take out Scheifele and Montgomery wanted to make sure the right guy got the credit.

Of course, in the end, it didn’t work. Players like Morgan Barron, Brandon Tanev, Hayden Fleury, Luke Schenn, Dylan DeMelo, Dylan Samberg, Mason Appleton and Gabriel Vilardi just worked and worked and worked while the stars played like the stars they are. Hellebuyck, Perfetti, Ehlers (despite the injury), Connor, Pionk, Lowry and Namestnikov were sensational.

When you score with 1.6 seconds to play and then scored at 16:10 of the second overtime, you are a team that doesn’t quit. And when you have the fans behind them like the Jets have, there is never any reason to believe it’s over. No matter the score.