Blues reflect on Game 7 heartbreaker: 'It's brutal'
The St. Louis Blues were unsurprisingly crushed after coughing up a two-goal lead and losing to the Winnipeg Jets in double overtime of Sunday night's unforgettable Game 7.
"A second and a half away from closing out the series ... it's brutal," captain Brayden Schenn said, according to The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford.
The Blues led 3-1 before Vladislav Namestnikov and Cole Perfetti scored in the final two minutes of regulation. Perfetti's equalizer was the latest game-tying goal in a Game 7 in NHL history, coming with only two seconds left.
Jets captain Adam Lowry deflected the series winner home 16 minutes into the second extra frame.
"I've had a few painful ones," Blues head coach Jim Montgomery said. "I've had overtime Game 7 losses. Anytime your season ends, it's painful."
Both of Winnipeg's late goals came 6-on-5 with its goalie pulled. St. Louis allowed a league-worst 13 goals against extra attackers during the regular season.
The Blues were heavy underdogs in the series against the Presidents' Trophy-winning Jets. St. Louis was a long shot to even make the playoffs for much of the season, but it got into the mix with a 12-game winning streak late in the schedule. Coincidentally, Winnipeg was the team that ended the Blues' franchise-record heater April 7.
Montgomery, who was hired in November soon after the Boston Bruins fired him, is confident the strides his team made this season will carry over into 2025-26.
"What we did here in the last three months is we changed the culture back to where it needs to be, to be able to grow and get better," he said.
The Jets will take on the Dallas Stars in the second round.