May 4, 2025, Hockey Night In Canada

The NHL playoffs have begun. Five Canadian teams made the tournament to chase Lord Stanley’s iconic mug. Winnipeg Jets finished first overall and seemed to present Canada’s best chance for winning the elusive trophy. The seemingly cursed Toronto Maple Leafs finished first in their division and would face an overachieving Ottawa Senators team, the Edmonton Oilers returned after a lower finish from the year before, and finally, the Montreal Canadiens were up against a very strong Washington Capitals franchise.

The games began, and I decided that this would be a good year to bite the bullet and pay to watch Canada’s game. I’m not sure why I made the decision to part with my hard-earned money to watch the playoffs. Maybe it was the thought that this could be the year when a Canadian team finally broke the thirty-plus-year drought. 

Tonight’s game made it all worthwhile.

Winnipeg entered the playoffs with the best record in hockey and were matched up against the underdog St. Louis Blues. On paper, it shouldn’t have been this close. After all, the Jets had the best goalie in Connor Hellebuyck and finished with twenty more points than their rivals from Missouri.

In hockey, the regular season doesn’t always mean that much. Just ask the record-setting Boston Bruins, who, after winning the most games in NHL history, lost to the upstart Florida Panthers in seven games after posting 65 wins and 135 points in the 2022-2023 season. 

The Jets experienced first-round disappointment one year ago after having a great regular season.

The pressure was on for them to win. And none more so than goaltender Hellebuyck. At home, the Vezina-winning goalie was his usual steady self, but when they went into St. Louis, it all fell apart for the Winnipeg goalie. He lost all three games with a goals against average of an astronomical 7.24, meaning he’d given up over 7 goals per game on the road.

After a disastrous second period in game six, it all came down to one game at home. The most iconic of games.

Game seven in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Game seven didn’t start that great for the home team. Winnipeg came out flat and only managed four shots on goal in the entire first period. Meanwhile, Hellebuyck had let in two soft goals and Winnipeg found itself down by two. It looked as if the Presidents’ Trophy winners could well fall to the underdog Blues. 

When the Blues scored in the dying seconds of the Second period, it looked grim for Canada’s best hope to win Lord Stanley’s Grail. 

There was a lady who stood behind the Jets’ bench with a sign that read “We Believe.” Personally, I had my doubts.

Yet the players did believe, and they battled hard to find a way to come back from a two-goal deficit.

I sat on the edge of my seat, willing the Winnipeg team to score, to make it close.

Then the unexpected happened. With Hellebuyck on the bench for an extra attacker and the Jets pressing, they finally found a way to get the puck past Jordan Binnington, St Louis’s star goaltender. 

It was 3-2 with under two minutes to go. The chase was on, they had a chance. My heart was racing with excitement, I couldn’t sit still. My wife was on the edge of her seat; we cheered and groaned with every movement of the puck. 

Time kept ticking down. The Blues cleared the zone, there was less than thirty seconds left. The Jets’ season was slipping away.

But they kept pressing. Kept swarming the net. I glanced at the clock. 14 seconds left, the puck was behind the net. Kyle Connor from the Jets tried to put the puck in the slot for a shot. It bounced back and went to the point where he passed it. I found myself calling out for them to shoot. I glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen. 4, seconds 3, seconds 2 seconds.

He scores! The clock froze at 1.6 seconds left. I leaped to my feet, ran over, and hugged my wife.

They did it! They tied it up with under 2 seconds left in the game.

Unbelievable.

Their season was not over. There was still a chance for redemption for Hellebuyck and the Jets.

These were the moments every Canadian kid who loves hockey grows up dreaming about. Game Seven sudden-death overtime. I hugged my wife, and we sat on the edge of our seats waiting to see what would come next.

What followed was fifty-plus minutes of some of the most exciting hockey I’ve ever watched. The Canadian team pushed and dominated St. Louis. It was like the Jets found another gear. The Blues were on their heels, and the only reason the game was still going was the heroics of their goaltender, Binnington. 

But I’d seen this script before, the home team dominated only to have the other side get a fluke goal. 

The second overtime was getting to the last few minutes. Every time the Blues came into the Winnipeg zone, I held my breath. Would this be the time to have their hope shattered? 

But then Winnipeg began pressing hard. They swarmed the Blues, and I had a feeling it would only go so long.

“Winnipeg wants this so bad, I don’t think they will be denied,” I uttered the words, then swallowed them as St Louis took control of the puck and raced toward Hellebuyck. He made a solid save. “I shouldn’t say that I might jinx them.” As if anything I do affects what happens on the ice thousands of kilometres away.

My wife laughed, “You’re right on all counts.”

The Jets rushed back into St. Louis territory, a pass to the point by Kyle Connor, a shot, a deflection. A bounce. The puck flew into the back of the Blues’ net.

I leaped for joy, “Wahoo, scored!” My wife leaped up and we hugged each other. 

It was over, the Jets managed an unbelievable comeback for the ages. This was a game that would go down as one of the best ever. 

What a game it was. 

The other series resulted in two other Canadian teams advancing to the second round. The Montreal Canadiens fell in five games, knocked out by Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. The Leafs dispatched Ottawa in six games, and Edmonton came back to win four in a row against LA to complete the trifecta. 

Canada has three of the last eight teams in the playoffs for the first time in over twenty years. 

I’ve even been cheering for my most hated team, the Oilers. Probably has a lot to do with my picks in the hockey pool I entered. I have three OIlers, players on my team – so there is that.

It was too bad there had to be a loser in a game like the one I watched today. I feel bad for the St Louis Blues, who came so close, less than 2 seconds from victory, only to lose in double overtime. Alas, there always has to be a winner and a loser. The biggest winner in this game was those of us lucky enough to watch it happen.

On to round two, let’s hope for… I don’t even want to write it down. I might just jinx it.

Go Canada go!