Winnipeg forward Nikolaj Ehlers returned from injury to cap one of the most incredible comebacks of Jets 2.0 history.
Ehlers, who had missed about a month of action with a shoulder injury, scored his second goal of the game at 9:13 of overtime to give Winnipeg a hard-fought 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Bell MTS Place on Sunday night.
The Jets took a commanding 3-0 lead on Edmonton in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup series.
Ehlers scored when centre Paul Stastny drew a faceoff draw back to the winger, who fired a screened shot past Oilers netminder Mike Smith.
“We just literally talked about it before that faceoff,” Ehlers told CBC/Sportsnet. “I asked him if I should be behind him for a shot and I guess it couldn’t have worked out better.”
The Jets had rebounded from a three-goal deficit by scoring three goals in 3:03 of the third period to tie the score 4-4 and force the OT.
Jets forward Mathieu Perreault had scored a power-play goal at 11:45 of the third. Forward Blake Wheeler then pulled Winnipeg to within 4-3 at 14:28. Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey tied the game just 16 seconds later.
“This team just kept battling hard,” Ehlers said. “This team is incredible. This team is just so much fun to be a part of.
“Being back with the boys and having this ending, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Edmonton had taken a 4-1 lead after ever-dangerous forwards Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid broke out. Draisaitl scored two goals and an assist while McDavid added three helpers. Zack Kassian and Jujhar Khaira, who had given the Oilers a 4-1 lead in the third period, also scored.
But the Oilers then blew it.
“Lots went wrong, I guess,” McDavid told reporters. “We were in a good spot up 4-1, then we couldn’t get a kill on the powerplay. They kinda took a lifeline there and went on from there.
“Obviously, it’s unfortunate. We’ve built ourselves a really big hole, but we’re not gonna roll over and play dead against these guys.”
Ehlers had also scored on the powerplay to pull Winnipeg to within 2-1 in the second period, only to watch Kassian up the score to 3-1 heading into the third period.
“It was just mistakes and maybe we panicked a little bit,” Draisaitl said. “We’ve got to find a way to get back into it.”
Winnipeg can wrap up the series when it plays host to the Oilers on Monday at 8:45 p.m.
“We also know that we’ve got a pretty important game tomorrow night,” Ehlers said.
