Sunday was the third-longest Game 7 in NHL history. It was also the 14th Game 7 that needed multiple overtimes, including the fifth in the past 20 years, and the latest since Game 7 between the Blues and Stars in the 2019 Western Conference Second Round.

“The hardest thing in the NHL is to win the first round. It really is,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “You build confidence as you can, but it’s so hard to get through that first round. There’s a lot of doubt at times, there’s obviously lots of excitement, but for our group, just for me in the sense of being here in just the three years, to lose in those first rounds, those were heartbreaking.

“Last year, obviously with the season we had, to do it this year we didn’t want to go out. That was one of the messages I said to these guys, ‘Bring your best game forward and have no regrets,’ and that’s what it was all about. And that’s what I thought, that after we got through the first, that’s what happened. Nobody wanted to be done, nobody wanted to be done playing this year, and that was special.”

Overtime, let alone two of them, seemed an impossible scenario with two minutes remaining in regulation. The Blues were up 3-1, Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck was on the bench, the Jets were on a 6-on-5 and scrambling to salvage something, anything, to keep their playoff hopes alive. Vladislav Namestnikov , who had shot wide on two earlier opportunities in the game, didn’t miss with 1:56 remaining, however, to get the Jets to within one at 3-2.

As the clock ticked toward zero, Cole Perfetti , who had played one NHL postseason game entering the series, was in the slot to tie it with three seconds remaining. Perfetti was swarmed in the corner as Binnington lay face down on the ice, the arena erupting in jubilation.

“Yeah, that one stinks,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. “Just from a two-goal lead and two 6-on-5 goals against and a second and a half away from closing out the series. … [Stinks]. 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.”