What went wrong for Blues in chaotic final seconds of third period in heartbreaking playoff loss to Jets
There is playoff heartbreak — and then there is what happened to the Blues on Sunday night.St.Louis was 2.2 seconds from upsetting Winnipeg, which had an NHL-best 116 points this season, in Game 7 of their opening-round series before a chaotic sequence led to a game-tying goal from Cole Perfetti.“We think we can get the puck and win the battle,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery told the St.
Louis Post Dispatch said afterward.“Unfortunately we didn’t and we’re out of structure, and that’s why there’s an odd-man … there’s a 3-on-2 at the net.
They whiffed on their one-timer and it went right to a guy in the slot.For whatever reason, puck-luck in this series, if you look at the home teams, the puck-luck was incredible.
That’s why I think you ended up with seven wins by the home teams.” Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich was also roasted for a suspect decision with 46 seconds left.The former Ranger had room to skate and kill some time, but instead fired from his own blue line and missed the empty net, leading to an icing call against the Blues.“If Buchnevich skates the puck with the empty net, instead of airing mailing it for an icing, this game and series is over and the Blues are on to Dallas,” one fan wrote on X.The Jets would go on to win in double overtime to end the series when Adam Lowry deflected in a shot with 3:50 remaining.“Yeah, that one stinks,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn told the paper.“That one sucks.
Just from a two-goal lead and two 6-on-5 goals against and a second and half away from closing out the series … sucks.It’s brutal.
We had a good group in there that played hard for one another all year, and there’s no other words to really describe that one.”The Blues had led 2-0 and then 3-1 before the Jets pulled goalie Connor Hellebuyck, leading to two goals in the final two minutes.The second one coming after Nikolaj Ehlers whiffed on a shot at the blue line then got the puck back before sending it cross-ice to Kyle...