Jets erase four-goal deficit in final 2:39 to stun Canadiens 5-4

The Winnipeg Jets trailed by four goals with under three minutes left in regulation on Tuesday night, then scored four times in 2:06 to force overtime and beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 at Bell Centre, according to the Guardian US Sport and Yahoo Sports.

Dylan Samberg settled it with a wrist shot past Jacob Fowler 3:30 into overtime, completing a comeback that matched the latest such rally in NHL history and ended Winnipeg's nine-game losing streak, their first win since 13 October.

Kyle Connor scored twice in the span, including the tying goal with the Jets' goaltender pulled and Montreal on the penalty kill, 27 seconds after his first. "What a way to end the streak we were on," Connor said.

Connor told Yahoo Sports the group had tried to stay positive through the slump: "We just came into [Monday] with such a good attitude and just tried to live in the present and even manufacture some kind of positive and jump even if it wasn't there."

The rally began with Tyrel Bauer, a sixth-round pick playing his 10th NHL game, who fought Canadiens defenceman Arber Xhekaj with 9:20 left before scoring his first career goal with 2:39 remaining, completing a Gordie Howe hat-trick.

Bauer said the dressing room had stayed united through the losing run. "That's a long, hard stretch, but this group believed in each other," he said. "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 of the third, with Bauer picking up the assist, before Connor's two late strikes tied the game and sent it to overtime.

Montreal had built the lead through goals from Cole Caufield, who scored twice, along with Josh Anderson and Owen Beck, the latter opening the scoring 3:05 into the first period.

Fowler, the NHL's rookie of the month for October, finished with 42 saves, including a string of stops on Mark Scheifele during a second period in which he made 19 saves alone. Jets goaltender Stuart Skinner made 18 stops.

Winnipeg had dominated territorially before the rally, outshooting Montreal 47-22 and finishing with an 87-47 edge in shot attempts.

Canadiens coach Martin St-Louis said his side had been outplayed despite the result turning on fine margins. "We were very opportunistic on our chances," he said. "I think we gave up 80-something shot attempts.... They were better than we were. You have to give them credit. They weren't winning. You could tell they had a lot of urgency. They didn't quit. You have to tip your hat to what they just did."

A Canadiens player said the dressing room struggled to explain the collapse, with one telling reporters, "I guess [we] thought the game was over."

Jets coach Scott Arniel praised his team's defensive effort across the contest. "Our team, we played hard," he said. "I thought we did a lot of really good things for three periods. We talked about defending our way out of this. I thought we did that. When we didn't have the puck, we worked to get it back."

The defeat snapped a five-game winning streak for Montreal, third in the Eastern Conference, while Winnipeg's win arrives in the midst of a stretch of five games in eight nights and a season complicated by former MVP goaltender Connor Hellebuyck requesting a trade before the campaign began.

Connor said the Jets would look to build on the turnaround. "We are going to enjoy this one," he said. "You've gotta enjoy the wins in the National Hockey League, especially when you are on a streak like that. We are going to try to use this to catapult us and to build upon it."