Jets Stun Canadiens 5-4 in OT After Historic Comeback

MONTREAL — With less than three minutes left in regulation on Tuesday night, the Winnipeg Jets were losing 4-0, winless in nine games, and staring at a tenth straight defeat at the Bell Centre. Then, in one of the most extraordinary finishes in NHL history, they scored four times, forced overtime, and won.

Defenceman Dylan Samberg finished the job at 3:30 of overtime, beating Canadiens goaltender Jacob Fowler to complete a 5-4 victory that snapped Winnipeg’s nine-game winless run and gave the Jets their first win since October 13.

It was, according to the NHL, the latest four-goal comeback in league history. Winnipeg’s rally began at 57:21 of the game, later than the previous mark set by the Los Angeles Kings on November 10, 2007.

A mountain that looked impossible

Montreal had controlled the night for almost all of it. Cole Caufield scored his second goal of the game, and his tenth of the season, just 46 seconds into the third period to make it 4-0, and the Bell Centre crowd was already celebrating what looked like a comfortable home win.

Winnipeg had not scored at all. The Jets entered the game 0-7-2 in their previous nine, and nothing in the first 57 minutes suggested that run was about to end. Then rookie Tyrel Bauer scored his first NHL goal with 2:39 remaining, and the impossible suddenly felt possible.

Morgan Barron made it 4-2 at 18:03 of the third period, finishing a two-on-one rush. The Jets pulled goaltender Stuart Skinner for an extra attacker, and Kyle Connor took over.

Two goals in 27 seconds

Connor scored twice on one-timers from the right circle, 27 seconds apart, to tie the game. The first came with exactly one minute remaining. The second, on the power play, deflected in off Canadiens defenceman Noah Dobson with 33 seconds left, sending the game to overtime at 4-4.

Asked afterwards whether he had still believed, Connor answered simply: “Always.”

The four goals arrived in just over two minutes of playing time, turning a 4-0 deficit into a tie and leaving the Montreal crowd stunned. Samberg then ended it in overtime, finishing a play set up by Gabriel Vilardi and Adam Lowry, as detailed in the NHL’s game recap.

A record that rewrites the book

The comeback was the fourth time an NHL team has erased a four-goal deficit after the 50-minute mark, according to league figures cited in coverage of the game, and the first to do so in the final five minutes. The previous latest comeback had stood for almost 19 years.

For Winnipeg, the win also ended a miserable stretch. The Jets improved to 5-8-3, and the manner of the victory — five unanswered goals, on the road, against a Montreal side that had started the night strongly — will matter as much as the two points. As the Canadian Press report noted, Winnipeg had every reason to stop believing, down four goals in the third period and in its fifth game in eight nights.

For Montreal, the collapse will sting. A 4-0 lead with less than three minutes to play should never be lost, and the Canadiens will spend the coming days picking through how a comfortable night became a historic defeat.

It was another stunning comeback in a week full of them across North American sport, from UCLA’s season-opening upset of Arizona on the basketball court to the Cardinals’ late rally against Dallas.

What comes next

Winnipeg will try to build on the win when it hosts the Vancouver Canucks on November 5. Montreal, meanwhile, must regroup quickly and rediscover the defensive discipline that had carried it to a four-goal lead before the final minutes unravelled.

One night in Montreal will not fix Winnipeg’s season on its own. But for a team that had forgotten how to win, a comeback like this one — the latest four-goal rally the NHL has ever seen — is quite a way to remember.