The Winnipeg Jets had every reason to stop believing. They were down four goals in the third period, less than three minutes from a 10th straight defeat, in their fifth game in eight nights. Their coach was on the hot seat. Their season had been rocked from the start when former MVP goalie Connor Hellebuyck asked for a trade.
The Bell Centre was roaring and a Montreal Canadiens win looked certain, but Kyle Connor still had faith.
“Always,” the Jets winger said.
Connor scored twice, and Dylan Samberg won it in overtime as Winnipeg rallied for the latest four-goal comeback in NHL history on Tuesday night, stunning the Canadiens 5-4 to end a nine-game skid.
Winnipeg scored four goals in two minutes and six seconds to tie the game with 33 seconds remaining in regulation, before Samberg beat Canadiens goalie Jacob Fowler with a wrist shot at 3:30 in overtime.
“What a way to end the streak we were on,” Connor said.
The Jets had controlled most of the play before the rally but Fowler, the NHL’s rookie of the month for October, looked unbeatable. The 21-year-old American made 19 saves in the second period alone, including several incredible stops on Mark Scheifele.
Jets defenseman Tyrel Bauer played his part in turning things around. A sixth-round draft pick playing in his 10th NHL game, Bauer dropped the gloves with Canadiens heavyweight Arber Xhekaj with 9:20 left in regulation. Xhekaj fired up the crowd and was soon joined in the penalty box by his younger brother, Florian, the two grinning together on the arena’s big screen.
But Bauer had the last laugh, scoring his first career goal with 2:39 left in regulation to ignite the comeback.
“That’s a long, hard stretch, but this group believed in each other,” said Bauer, his fists still dripping blood after his tilt with the older Xhekaj. “We had each other’s backs in that room, the guys had my back on the ice tonight. I blacked out for the rest of it. I don’t know if I wanted to win a hockey game more in my life.”
Morgan Barron made it 4-2 at 18:03, with Bauer earning an assist that completed his Gordie Howe hat-trick. Connor then tied it with two one-timers 27 seconds apart with the goalie pulled – the second on the power play – before Samberg finished the job in overtime.
In the Canadiens’ locker room, players had trouble explaining how they fell apart.
“I guess [we] thought the game was over,” said Canadiens winger Cole Caufield, who scored his second of the game early in the third period to make it 4-0. “We had a four-goal lead. There’s no excuse for this. It’s terrible.”
Head coach Martin St Louis said the Canadiens “got what we deserved.”
“We were winning, but we weren’t outplaying them,” he said. “If you look at the game as a whole, forget the score, Winnipeg was the better team tonight. How the whole thing happened, that’s hard to explain. I’ve never been part of anything like that.”
The Jets entered desperate for their first win since 13 October, and their first since Hellebuyck’s trade to the New Jersey Devils ended a tumultuous finish to his Jets tenure. They were coming off a 7-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday that Connor, an 11-year veteran, called a “low point” with the franchise. That loss raised questions about Arniel’s future behind the bench heading into Tuesday night’s game.
It’s a night the Jets hope they can look back on as the turning point in their season.
“I’m so happy that we won tonight and we got that win,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “This isn’t February and March. To me, we’re still in the hunt. Going into this game, we were four points out of a playoff spot in the West. You just gotta stay in the pack. I know it’s been a grind for us, but we just gotta stay in it. And hopefully this is the jump-start that we needed.”
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