WINNIPEG \u2014 Heading into Game 7, the Winnipeg Jets faced many questions about the value of their season.<\/p>\n
What could 82 games spent setting records, winning the Presidents\u2019 Trophy and achieving myriad personal milestones mean if the Jets still couldn\u2019t make it out of the first round? Could an entire year really mean nothing if Game 7 slipped away?<\/p>\n
What a hollow feeling that would have been. What an empty emotion, going from the roar of Canada Life Centre \u2014 the thousands of fans gasping at every shot attempt, cheering every hit, and collectively exhaling every time the puck left a St. Louis Blues player\u2019s stick and landed somewhere safe \u2014 to nothingness. To the silence and doubts. To all those nagging questions that never seemed to go away.<\/p>\n
The Jets showed their value in the dying seconds of Game 7. With a 4-3 double overtime win over the Blues, they gave meaning to an entire season\u2019s effort.<\/p>\n
They spent the year telling us, showing us and telling us again that they were a more resilient group \u2014 that they had built their scar tissue, learned their lessons and proven to each other that they\u2019d be there in the biggest moments. It was a season set to be defined by its playoffs from the moment the puck dropped, but the Jets told us \u2014 ad nauseum \u2014 that they would focus only on the present moment, whether it was the next practice, the next shift or the next play.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg put together the worst possible start to Game 7. Jordan Kyrou torched through the neutral zone, broke through poor Jets coverage and scored on St. Louis\u2019 first shot of the game. Six minutes and six seconds later, Mathieu Joseph made it 2-0 on the Blues\u2019 fourth shot, heaping more doubt upon Connor Hellebuyck\u2019s playoff reputation. Josh Morrissey had already been hurt once in the game on an Oskar Sundqvist hit, but was injured trying to hit Joseph before his 2-0 goal. It was the last action of Morrissey\u2019s series. The Jets were down to five defencemen just seven minutes in.<\/p>\n
But it was only the beginning of an all-time classic Game 7.<\/p>\n
Every second still left on the clock is another moment to turn a game, a series, or even the narrative about a franchise around. The story of a team is defined by a series of moments \u2014 little actions chained together over time, such that they add up to something more.<\/p>\n
Vladislav Namestnikov had missed two Grade-A chances in the second period as the Jets pushed to turn Game 7 into a competition. He\u2019d only scored 11 goals all season, but kept pushing. With two minutes left in the third period, Alex Iafallo, Adam Lowry and Nino Niederreiter battled to recover Namestnikov\u2019s missed shot. Dylan Samberg kept Brayden Schenn\u2019s clearing attempt in at the line. And Namestnikov changed his story \u2014 and his team\u2019s \u2014 when he fired a cross-ice pass that bounced off of Ryan Suter and past Binnington.<\/p>\n
It gave Cole Perfetti\u2019s goal the chance to make history. The Jets didn\u2019t even dress Perfetti in four out of five playoff games last year, but on Sunday, he willed them to overtime with almost no time left on the clock.<\/p>\n
Consider how many tiny, individual actions work in concert to create a massive moment that every Jets fan will remember.<\/p>\n
Namestnikov\u2019s goal made it 3-2 with 1:56 left, the clock ticking and the Jets\u2019 season slipping away. Gabriel Vilardi won the ensuing faceoff, but it took the Jets almost a minute to get back into the Blues\u2019 zone. That\u2019s when Vilardi boxed out Cam Fowler, Nikolaj Ehlers spun a pass to Perfetti in front, and Perfetti kept fighting for a goal with second- and third-effort pushes on Binnington\u2019s pad. He came so close that the NHL initiated a lengthy video review, giving Winnipeg a chance to rest its big guns in a final push to save its season.<\/p>\n
The Blues won the next two faceoffs, but Pavel Buchnevich missed Winnipeg\u2019s empty net from 150 feet away.<\/p>\n
Still, the Jets pushed, recovering a puck and dumping it in with 25 seconds left in the game. Justin Faulk got the puck first, but Kyle Connor knocked down his attempt to clear it. Colton Parayko tried to rim the puck out, but Ehlers kept it in at the line. When Ehlers\u2019 shot hit Robert Thomas, all three of Lowry, Vilardi and Perfetti converged upon Thomas to win it back. Then came the miracle.<\/p>\n
There were seven seconds left in Winnipeg\u2019s season when Ehlers fanned on his next shot, and five seconds left in the Jets\u2019 record-setting year when Lowry made yet another play to get the puck back to Ehlers at the point. There were four seconds left when Ehlers fired this puck to Connor across the ice, and three seconds left when Connor whipped it into the slot.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Perfetti\u2019s goal saved Winnipeg\u2019s season.<\/p>\n
WITH 1.6 SECONDS TO GO.\u00a0\ud83e\udd2f<\/p>\n
COLE PERFETTI\u203c\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/kgZU95vurH<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 5, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Perfetti scored the latest tying goal in Game 7 NHL history. In doing so, he changed Jets history, giving Lowry the chance to complete the comeback in double overtime.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s euphoric. It\u2019s emotional. It\u2019s motivating,\u201d Connor said. \u201cWe used that in overtime.\u201d<\/p>\n Overtime should have been the Blues\u2019 to win. The Jets\u2019 five healthy defencemen should have been too tired to keep them in it. Pionk and Samberg played over 40 minutes each, making them the first defencemen to cross that threshold in a Game 7 since Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis in 1999. Meanwhile, Dylan DeMelo played 36:40, Haydn Fleury played 33:02, and Luke Schenn played 27:49 \u2014 almost double their ordinary workloads. Nathan Walker hit the post early in overtime, but the Jets carried the flow of play, outshooting St. Louis 19-9 in the extra 36 minutes and 10 seconds of action.<\/p>\n It was apropos that Lowry won it \u2014 off his shinpad, at that \u2014 after Pionk fired the puck off Sundqvist and toward the net.<\/p>\n \u201cI probably dreamt it was a little nicer than just going off my leg, but it\u2019s one of those things, on the outdoor rink, in the driveway, you dream about being the hero in a Game 7 and giving yourself a chance to continue chasing a Stanley Cup,\u201d Lowry said. \u201cTo do it in Winnipeg at home \u2014 we have such tremendous fans, such tremendous support, just really happy we get to continue playing in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n NEVER IN DOUBT pic.twitter.com\/NC8RQZTGKb<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) May 5, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe gave it everything we had, down to the last second,\u201d Perfetti said after the series ended.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t like our start (but) how are you going to respond? What are you going to do?\u201d Connor said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe looked at each other and said, \u2018We\u2019re not done playing hockey yet.\u2019 It was special,\u201d Ehlers said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just really proud of the guys,\u201d Lowry said. \u201cYou get down 2-0, Game 7, it kind of feels like it\u2019s an insurmountable lead when it\u2019s 3-1, late. But to score two with the goalie out and to just have life \u2026 And for Fetts to bring the building to its feet with (three) seconds left is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n The legacy of a Game 7 double-overtime win is that of glory.<\/p>\n Every round a team wins as a collective inflates the big-game reputations of the people involved. Hellebuyck had a miserable series, but he dug in, locked things down and won Game 7. Namestnikov was the second-line centre the Jets wanted to improve upon with Brock Nelson, but Namestnikov scored two goals in the playoffs and Nelson scored none. Fleury was a depth signing capable of NHL or AHL duty; now he\u2019s a Game 7 performer who earns praise from his coach.<\/p>\n Results drive those storylines, even after a single series win. The Jets are free now; it took every second of Game 7, but they\u2019ve consolidated their 82-game regular-season excellence. The Dallas Stars await, starting on Wednesday, and should prove to be an even bigger test than St. Louis. But let\u2019s take a look at those lingering questions surrounding the Jets.<\/p>\n They weren\u2019t supposed to be able to overcome a poor start, especially after a playoff loss. Hellebuyck wasn\u2019t supposed to be able to stop the implosion, especially after giving up another early goal. No, this year\u2019s Jets weren\u2019t supposed to be frauds, but they certainly would have been discussed as such if they lost. And I don\u2019t think many people would have picked the Jets to win Game 7 without Mark Scheifele<\/a> or Morrissey \u2014 but this time, the Jets came through.<\/p>\n \u201cEven down 3-1, there was no doubt,\u201d Perfetti said. \u201cWe had belief in one another and belief that we were going to come back. I\u2019m just so proud of this group and so proud to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n One interesting footnote: Many of the players who factored in on the comeback win also made costly mistakes. Connor lost his coverage on the Blues\u2019 first goal and gave the puck away on the second. Ehlers mishandled a pass in the neutral zone, leading to Radek Faksa\u2019s 3-1 goal, and fought the puck again on the shift before making his inspired pass to Connor for Perfetti to tie it. Lowry had an empty net to shoot at in the third period, but found his shot blocked by Philip Broberg. Even Pionk, whose three assists and 46 minutes exemplify Winnipeg\u2019s perseverance as well as anyone in Game 7, started to wear down as overtime wore on. And in every single case, the Jets kept pushing.<\/p>\n Would Winnipeg\u2019s regular-season success really have meant nothing if Game 7 slipped away?<\/p>\n Thanks to one of the most dramatic double-overtime comebacks in NHL history, that\u2019s one question Winnipeg doesn\u2019t have to answer.<\/p>\n (Photo: Cameron Bartlett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n