Adam Lowry scored on a tipped shot 16:10 into the second overtime and the Winnipeg Jets rallied to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3 to advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs
Lowry scores late in 2OT to rally Jets to 4-3 win over Blues in Game 7 to advance to 2nd roundThe Associated PressWINNIPEG, Manitoba
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Adam Lowry scored on a tipped shot 16:10 into the second overtime and the Winnipeg Jets rallied to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3 on Sunday night to advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs.
Cole Perfetti had two goals, Vladislav Namestnikov also scored, and Kyle Connor and Neal Pionk each had three assists for Winnipeg, which scored twice in the final two minutes of regulation to tie the score. Connor Hellebuyck finished with 26 saves.
Jordan Kyrou, Mathieu Joseph and Radek Faksa scored for the Blues. Jordan Binnington had 43 saves.
Lowry deflected Pionk’s shot from the right point late in the second overtime to give the Jets the win and end the third-longest Game 7 in NHL history at 96:10.
The Jets will next face the Dallas Stars starting Wednesday at home in the teams’ first postseason meeting.
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.
Perfetti then scored his second redirected goal of the game with 3 seconds remaining to lift 15,225 frenzied white-clad fans out of their seats inside Canada Life Centre.
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 Binnington covered it.
Binnington also stopped Nikolaj Ehlers on a breakaway. The Jets outshot the Blues 11-4 in the first extra session.
The Jets were without star center Mark Scheifele (upper body injury) for the second straight game and then lost top defenseman Josh Morrissey about eight minutes into the first period.
Winnipeg won the franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy after having a league-best 56-22-4 regular-season record and were the favorites 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.
Kyrou scored on the Blues’ first shot of the game at 1:10 of the first period after he and Colton Parayko went on the rush. 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 Perfetti redirected it by Binnington with 8:19 remaining.
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.
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 Nashville 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 has a 10-9 record in such games.
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