Yeah, yeah, I know, there was another Game 7 last night. I have little doubt far more people watched Buddy Hield steal the spotlight from Steph Curry, Playoff Jimmy and just about the entire Houston Rockets team with the game of his career, propelling the Golden State Warriors to the NBA playoffs’ second round and allowing the league to breathe a sigh of relief after losing both Los Angeles franchises, and with it Lebron James and Kawhi Leonard, than the number of people that could have opted in on the MAX app for the other one.
I’m acutely aware hockey takes a back seat to basketball in most American households, especially when a game is featuring the Winnipeg Jets. Winnipeg is far and away the smallest of the NHL’s seven Canadian markets, therefore making it (at leasy) 32nd in the preference of who their broadcast partners would like to offer up. And Game 7 or not, a winner-go-home showdown with the St. Louis Blues in their Little Rink on the Prairie simply didn’t scream “click me”.
The fact that the Jets were the league’s President’s Trophy winners meant scant little on this side of the border. And the fact that the Blues were a lackluster 8 seed that had played them to a draw and were on the verge of eliminating them in the first round for the fifth time in eight playoff appearances in the team’s second incarnation hardly made the value proposition of switching attention from the Buddy Hield show compelling.
But then, as is so often the case in playoff hockey, the landscape quickly changed, and what unfolded proved to be epic.
As SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’s Tyler Lauletta described it:
The Winnipeg Jets are moving on to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a dramatic double-overtime win over the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 on Sunday night.
The Jets were fighting for their lives late in the third period, but found the game-tying goal with less than two seconds left on the clock to send the home crowd into hysterics.
Fans who weren’t able to make it into the Canada Life Centre on Sunday watched the game together from Donald Street, just outside the arena. They were similarly pleased with the game-tying goal.
NHL.com’s Zach Bachar pointed out exactly how shocking that sequence of events was:
Cole Perfetti kept the Winnipeg Jets’ 2024-25 season alive with a miraculous late goal against the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 on Sunday.
With the Jets trailing 3-2, Perfetti found the back of the net following an impressive play from Nikolaj Ehlers and Kyle Connor that set a new record for the latest game-tying goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Per #NHLStats… Perfetti (59:57) scored the latest game-tying goal in a Game 7 in NHL history. The latest previous tally was Matt Cooke (59:54) in 2004 Conference Quarterfinals with Vancouver (3-2 OT L vs CGY).
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS noted how that was set up by a pretty atypical occurance of its own:
Winnipeg was down 3-1 in the third period when Namestnikov scored with 1:56 remaining after his shot went in off Blues defenseman Ryan Suter.
With Hellebuyck pulled for an extra skater, Winnipeg appeared to tied it up 50 seconds later, but a review ruled the puck didn’t cross the goal line.
And were all of that not enough, the ensuing extra session that turned into extra sessions cemented the game’s place in history, as well as the name of the person who eventually ended it:
Adam Lowry scored on a tipped shot 16:10 into the second overtime …Lowry deflected Pionk’s shot from the right point…to end the third-longest Game 7 in NHL history.
And as yet another NHL.com scribe Tracey Myers quoted:
“Yeah, it’s incredibly special,” said Jets captain and St. Louis native Lowry, who deflected defenseman Neal Pionk’s shot past Jordan Binnington…for the winner.
“I probably dreamt it was a little nicer than just going off my leg, but it’s 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. To do it in Winnipeg at home, we have such tremendous fans, such tremendous support, just really happy we get to continue playing in front of them. They’ve been such a blessing for us all year.”
A St. Louis native breaks the hearts and backs of his hometown team and sends his new hometown into absolute bedlam. And all of a sudden a lot more of the hockey world knows how passionate and special the bond between a professional team where they’re literally the only game in town (sorry, CFL Blue Bombers, you matter even less down here) can be.
Had the Jets had a more successful past, you could draw comparisons to the Green Bay Packers or San Antonio Spurs. But as noted this is merely the reboot version of a franchise whose original iteration is now in Utah and had neglible success during its 17-year NHL run. Prior to last night the previous Game 7 that a team called the Winnipeg Jets had hosted was a first round WHA matchup in 1977 against the San Diego Mariners.
If you remembered that game, or even the San Diego Mariners, then you’re enough of a fan to realize how special last night was. Even if you’re not (and full disclosure: I wouldn’t have identified them as a pro hockey team in any Sporcle quiz) one should be able to appreciate how unlikely and thrilling last night was, and why, at least for today, both geographically and emotionally Winnipeg is the center of the NHL universe.
Courage…