Jets erase a 4-0 hole in the last three minutes and end the skid

The Winnipeg Jets had not won a game since Oct. 13. With about three minutes left in Montreal they trailed 4-0, and nine straight losses looked like ten. They won 5-4 in overtime, and no NHL team had ever come back from four goals down that late in a game.

A record that moved by minutes

The previous mark belonged to the Los Angeles Kings, whose four-goal comeback began at 52:46 of a game on Nov. 10, 2007. The Jets' rally began at 57:21. That is more than four and a half minutes later, which in hockey terms is most of an empty-net shift and a power play combined.

How the hole got dug

Owen Beck and Josh Anderson scored in the first period for Montreal. Cole Caufield added a power-play goal early in the second on a two-man advantage, then scored again at 0:46 of the third. Jacob Fowler stood on his head for the Canadiens, with 19 of his saves coming in the second period alone. Winnipeg was throwing pucks at the net and getting nothing back.

Four goals in under three minutes

Tyrel Bauer broke through first with his first NHL goal, with about three minutes left. Morgan Barron followed at 18:03 to make it 4-2. Kyle Connor then scored on a one-timer with roughly a minute to play, and tied the game on the power play with 33 seconds left. Montreal took a penalty at the worst possible time, and the Jets cashed it.

The special teams swing matters most here. Montreal had scored with the man advantage in the second period, and Winnipeg answered with its own at the only moment it counted. Adam Lowry and the top unit did not need a long look, just one clean shot lane.

The finish

Overtime lasted until 3:30, when Dylan Samberg scored on a pass from Lowry. Fowler finished with 42 saves. Stuart Skinner made 18 saves at the other end, a quiet night by volume until Montreal's lead was gone.

For a team that had gone weeks without a win and sat well down the Western Conference standings, one game does not fix a skid. Coach Scott Arniel said before puck drop that the Jets were four points out of a playoff spot, and a comeback this unlikely at least removes the pressure of finding a first win. What it cannot do is hide the first 57 minutes, when Winnipeg looked like a team waiting for the next loss.