Unreal Game 7 Drama! Jets Survive, Stars Stun Avalanche

Peter Klein

Game 7 magic lit up the NHL last night! 🏒 Peter Klein reacts to two unforgettable playoff finishes — starting with the Winnipeg Jets' impossible comeback against the Blues, capped off with a goal in the final seconds. No Scheifele, no Morrissey, no problem?  Then, Peter dives into the Dallas Stars' emotional win over the Colorado Avalanche — a game that flipped in the third period and saw a former Av come back to haunt them. From hero moments to heartbreaks, we break it all down and preview what’s next for the winners and losers.  💬 Drop your thoughts on the wildest Game 7 moment!  #Game7 #StanleyCupPlayoffs #WinnipegJets #DallasStars #ColoradoAvalanche #StLouisBlues #NHLPlayoffs #HockeyNight #NHLHighlights #ConnorHellebuyck  🔗 Stay Connected & Support the Show 🎧 Listen & Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/couch-potato-diary/id1564122189  Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM 🧠 Partners & Promos:  C of Dead Apparel → https://www.cofdead403.ca/  Swift Energy → https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=mriusnqm  🎁 Use Promo Code: PKPrimetime for 25% off! 📲 Follow Me:  Twitter (X) → https://x.com/primetimeklein  Instagram → https://instagram.com/primetimeklein  Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/Couchpotatodiary  Twitch → https://twitch.tv/primetimepk 📬 Business Inquiries & Fan Mail:  Email → couchpotatodiary@yahoo.com

Transcript

00:00The Winnipeg Jets were choke artists until they weren't, as they come away with a thrilling

00:13victory in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, moving on to the second round in just an absolutely

00:20fantastic night. There's no other way to put it. This one, and look, obviously, this segment was

00:28going to be a lot different today when there was two seconds left on the clock in the third period,

00:35but Cole Perfetti gets the deflection, and then Adam Lowry gets another deflection in the second

00:40overtime, giving the Winnipeg Jets the biggest win, easily, of Jets 2.0 and a ticket into the second

00:47round, but just an unbelievable night to start things off, and, like, you get all of the drama

00:54of it right away. The game starts, and Hellebuck is shaky again, and he is not able to make some

01:01big saves when the team needs it, and it just felt like a nervous building. It felt like a nervous

01:06hockey team. It did not seem like a President's Trophy winner or anything like that. It felt like

01:13a team that was struggle-bussing, and, quite frankly, a team that had quit, and we had talked

01:19before about how this team has quit at various different points, and that it looked like that

01:26was going to be the case again coming up on Sunday night, but then they're able to just, they're able

01:31to battle back. A perfect deflection from Perfetti gives them a bit of life at 2-1, and then another

01:38goal is scored, and it's 3-1, and it is just that air out of the balloon again, but then desperation

01:42sets in with under two minutes to go, and they are able to come back and tie this game up. Just

01:47absolutely incredible to come back from down by two with three minutes left, down by one with two

01:54seconds left. It was phenomenal, and the cherry on top of all of it is that they do this without

02:02Shifley and without Morrissey. It's incredible. Morrissey gets banged up very early on in that

02:09contest, and that kind of sets the team back a little bit, and all of a sudden now, Pionk is playing

02:1540 minutes, and earning that new contract that he got, and silencing a lot of doubters out there.

02:21So, a gigantic credit to Winnipeg for being able to battle through this, and getting these

02:28opportunities, and just thinking about that last play in regulation really does, I think, summarize

02:33what this game was for the Jets. The puck comes, first of all, the puck comes back to the point after

02:38a little bit of pressure, but not really able to break through, and it hops on Ehlers at the blue line,

02:43and it goes into the neutral zone. It's like, man, it is, when you have that zone time, it is really

02:48tough to tag up and get back in and get that set up again, but they're able to dump it in, they get

02:53the puck back, and it comes to Ehlers with like eight seconds left, and he goes to hammer one, and he

02:58whiffs on it, and oh no. So Lowry, in a battle normally reserved for the front of the net, instead

03:06happening at the top of the circle, chips it back to Ehlers, who goes from two absolute bonehead plays,

03:13to a perfect pass diagonally across the entire zone, that, I mean, if we really want to diagnose

03:18what happened, maybe St. Louis don't let that happen, but it goes across the entire zone,

03:24Conor heads up, just fires it toward the goal, and Perfetti is able to get the deflection in front,

03:29like it just goes from near disaster to absolute pandemonium in the White House, the White House,

03:35sorry, in Winnipeg, and sets this team up now for an incredible comeback victory. I don't think that

03:43all of this ignores what happened with Conor Hellebuck in this game, but I do think when you

03:48are looking at just the mentality of a hockey team, to have this sort of thing hanging over you,

03:54that you're not clutch choke artists. I had said they quit in this series, and I, look, I will still

04:01stand by that. I think there were stretches where they did quit in this series. Maybe not even quit

04:05in just like a, ugh, who cares, but just in a, man, we, maybe we just don't have it. Maybe we just

04:10don't do it. Um, I think that they had something in them that really got to them, and so to hear all

04:17of that, and to change it in literally two seconds, is incredible. That, I just, I, I feel like that has to

04:24be the monkey off of the back for so many of these guys to push toward now the second round against

04:31the Dallas Stars, to be able to put that can't win the big one behind them, and be able to move on in

04:36the way that they are now, is spectacular. The one thing is that there is still this Hellebuck

04:43question, and we had said that games, uh, what was it, three and four, I guess, that wasn't Hellebuck's

04:49fault. That, that was not. But then, coming out of the game five win, I was saying, like, look, they won,

04:55this was concerning. The goals that he was allowing, those were a problem, and I do think

05:01home ice advantage really played a factor in the two game sevens, by the way, that we saw. I think

05:06home ice advantage is one of the big winners of the weekend, because you have the Jets come up with a

05:11fantastic come from behind win, as do the Dallas Stars, and if that game is in St. Louis, I think

05:17Hellebuck gives up seven, because he was not good in this game, and I, I made the joke on, on social

05:25media, and I, I think we were giving the players some truth serum. I think there was maybe a little

05:29bit of truth to it, but, uh, they looked like a team that felt like they needed to score before the

05:34Blues got a shot, and, I mean, part of that is great job on offense, great job on defense, limiting

05:39everything, and shutting things down, but also, I do think there was a desperation there, and for

05:46Hellebuck, you, you don't want to, well, you know, let your goalie get 35 saves, and, and figure it

05:51out. It is wild that they played almost 100 minutes, and I don't think Hellebuck had 30 saves

05:55to make. I think he made eight in the two overtimes, and so you don't necessarily get that, you know

06:00what, I came up big when it counted. It's like, no, I, I got in the way a couple of times, and I allowed

06:05our team to, to win, even though, like, they soundly controlled the back 40 minutes of that game,

06:10going into that, that extra part, but, yeah, like, on a Hellebuck standpoint, there are still major

06:17questions, I think, to ask. I think you have to ask some major questions about what is going on with

06:21this particular goalie, because there were another, those were ones, again, yesterday, you have to make

06:26those saves. You just, you simply cannot allow those pucks to go in on you, especially given the

06:32circumstances, given the situation, and everything that is going on with this team, you have to make

06:37those stops. On the Blues side, I mean, this feels a little, like, duh, but this has to feel like a

06:45gigantic missed opportunity, right? Like, they, they, they were winning the game with three seconds

06:51left, and now their season's over. Like, that, that just, that has to feel like a gigantic miss.

06:57I don't think they did enough to put the pressure on Hellebuck when they had that advantage, to really

07:02lean on him and really put this one away, and again, a lot of that is credit to Winnipeg, but I do

07:07think that St. Louis, if you were to look back on this game, and Lord knows they will, I, I think

07:12there were a lot of opportunities that they could have just peppered this guy with shots, and really

07:17tried to break him down in a way that it felt like it was able to be done, but still, it's, it is a

07:24tricky balancing act now with the St. Louis Blues, because I, I've said it before, and I will say it

07:30again, there are a lot of pieces on this team that I like. Thomas and Kairou are guys that you can

07:34build around, right? And Butchnevich, um, he steps up with a big game in this series. Snuggaroo, it

07:39looks like he is the real deal, and I, I think the biggest loss of all of this is we're not going

07:43to have Harnerion, uh, with the Snuggaroo anymore. Um, by the way, I said it on social media, Harnerion

07:49killed it. Man, he was good. This entire series, um, I think he has been doing some very good work for

07:55a while, but I think this was easily his best work, which is saying a lot, because again, I think the

07:59guy has been on point for a very, very long time, as is, you know, evidenced by the fact that he is,

08:04like, the number two national guy in Canada in hockey right now, but, um, that, beside the point

08:09right now, like, you have some of these young pieces. Binnington has shown that he can be very

08:13sharp and very good, and help get this team to, to where they need to get to. But there's also a lot

08:17of veteran pieces on the team, right? Like, we just mentioned Butchnevich, but Shen, um, Fowler, Falk,

08:24Pareko, you, you have a lot of vets on this team, and they, they've tried to avoid the

08:29teardown, rebuild, whatever, and that's great, because it keeps you competitive, and they were

08:33a moment away from making it to the second round of the playoffs. I do think that there

08:39is a counter to that, that they were, like, two moments away from being eliminated by the

08:42Flames in the first round, or not even making it to the first round, and being eliminated in

08:46the regular season, if Calgary doesn't, uh, completely crap the bed in a couple of games

08:50against the Blues or against Anaheim Lake. But regardless, this is, that balancing act, because

08:55on the one hand, this is, you were the last team in the playoffs, and you pushed the President's

09:03Trophy winners to within two seconds of being eliminated. That feels like a, you know what,

09:08you did what you could. But this isn't, this isn't Montreal, who's, you know what, this is a

09:12learning experience that they can grow from. St. Louis is learned. St. Louis is a learned

09:16hockey team. And so now, where is that next step coming from for this particular group? But

09:22we're going to do the full off-season preview coming up next week here on Couch Potato Diary.

09:26Again, follow me on social media. I am at PrimetimeKlein, wherever you are socially.

09:33And if you're digging the hockey content, we do have all the playlists and stuff now. So I know we

09:37kind of bounce around sport to sport on the live streams and on the show. So if you are watching

09:42on YouTube or on Dailymotion later, they have all of the, or we have all of the hockey stuff all

09:48in one playlist. You can just kind of binge through all of that. That was not the only insane game of

09:54the weekend, as the Dallas Stars win an absolute thriller. A heartbreaking loss for the Colorado

10:01Avalanche. The Stars, again, come from two down in the third period to pick up a victory. They only

10:07needed, yeah, they only needed 60 minutes instead of an extra period and a half, like the Winnipeg Jets

10:12did, but a phenomenal showing from the Dallas Stars. And again, it is a weekend that we will

10:19remember forever based off of all of the madness that happened. And I think it was like four times

10:26in NHL history, game sevens, teams with two goalie in the third period ended up blowing it. And twice

10:32it happened in 24 hours. Like just the stuff that you couldn't even script. And the extra layer on top

10:40of it is it's Rantanen for the Dallas Stars who steps up in the big time way and provides that spark

10:48to get them going. And we had said, um, given some of the injuries, this was a big players need to make

10:54big plays sort of a series. And we had kind of pointed it out when Colorado jumped out to that early

10:59advantage. Rantanen was quiet. Johnston was quiet. Obviously Robertson and Heiskanen were quiet, but they

11:05had excuses. Uh, but you, you weren't having the, the big players stepping up on the Dallas Stars.

11:10Well, now they did Rantanen with back to back games with four points in a period, absurd, but really did

11:19show why there was a lot of, um, a lot of attention being paid to, to what that whole trade market was

11:27doing and why he is so impactful. Cause it's one thing when you have the speed and the size and the

11:32skill that this dude has in the regular season, but it translates really well to that whole post

11:40season thing. And it took a little bit to get going, but once it got going, my, oh my, like he

11:45gets four points in the third period. He could have had a couple of more. He was zinging those passes

11:49around. And again, you think of the big power forward and the goal scoring, but his passing was

11:53on point in this as well. And he was the one who stepped up and kind of dragged them out of

11:59whatever kind of a dull moment they were in in what was a very competitive game with Colorado.

12:04It's not like they were down in the dumps for a bit or whatever. This was back and forth,

12:07back and forth. And it was just, Colorado happened to have to go into the net and before Dallas did,

12:12and the stars are able to, to bounce it back. But Rantanen coming up in this big way,

12:17just really kind of ties this whole season together in this whole series together. But now also you had

12:23Johnston getting the big goal with the, the three, two, one, that's going to end up going down

12:28as the game winner, getting him going in this playoff series when he had been kind of quiet

12:32is so important now for the Dallas stars. And I think, I do think a point in this series that has

12:38been lost a little bit is how damn good Ottinger was and how his performance really did keep them in

12:46this. You think of the, uh, Nachushkin net drive and he's able to, to make a nice sprawling save.

12:51And there was a couple of others where he comes out and challenges. I just thought he was brilliant

12:55in this and it really now sets them up in a very interesting manner going into a playoff series

13:03against a team that has also now had to go seven games in the Winnipeg Jets. So a lot to look at

13:09with that one. Um, we're going to be breaking those down again as the show kind of rolls on here, but

13:14just absolute brilliance from the Dallas stars and from their top guys. And now that adds to the

13:20heartbreak of Colorado, because this is a devastating loss, no matter who was on the

13:25other end scoring those goals, right? Up by two third period and you lose. Then you add onto it

13:30that it is against your former teammate who was your teammate this year that that happens. That is

13:36that, that, that's a tough one to, to kind of come back from a little bit. And now for Colorado,

13:43yes, they have the Stanley cup win. Um, and I'm not going to say what window is closed, but,

13:47um, that you are now getting further and further away and you're starting to hear some pretty

13:52frustrated takes from Nathan McKinnon about like they were missing their, like two other top guys

13:56and we couldn't beat them. Uh, so a lot of questions need to be asked. I thought this roster was built

14:01very well. Um, Landis Cog comes back. They, they, they make a couple of very good additions at the

14:07trade deadline. Um, picking up Nelson and Coyle and trying to add to the center depth, which you

14:11absolutely need in the Western conference. And they just, they weren't able to get by this. And again,

14:17they were five minutes away from being able to, and they just couldn't, couldn't finish this one.

14:23There's going to be obviously a lot of debate about the Rantanen thing. And this exact situation

14:28is why I was critical of the handling of the Rantanen thing and how it all played out more

14:35specifically on the Carolina side, if I were to be honest about it. But I still think when you look at

14:41what Colorado's objectives are, you have Nathan McKinnon, who is very good at this sport and you

14:48want to try to maximize everything you can. I still feel like, well, they did a pretty good job

14:53and it ends up getting, uh, like nature fits in really well with McKinnon. And so you've probably,

14:58you have found a, another dynamic duo for McKinnon. So you recover it really well. No one on that team

15:04can play as well, aside from one guy, no one on the team can play as well as Rantanen can. And so it is

15:09kind of a, as weird as it is to talk about this in sports, it's a cost benefit analysis thing for

15:15the avalanche. Okay. So you have a little bit more long-term stability. Um, you get something in

15:20return for this guy. That's great. You're also out in the first round now. So was it, was it worth it

15:28is the question. And this very result could have happened the exact same way if Rantanen stays and

15:34they push their way against the Dallas stars again. Maybe it is someone else on Dallas who is

15:40stepping up in that way. And it's the avalanche that are going home, but you cannot tell me that

15:44the avalanche made themselves a better hockey team this year with that Rantanen trade. And I

15:48understand you don't want your guy leaving for free, but then trade them for some nag rights in

15:53the third round. Um, because I just, I, I have to believe that from an avalanche standpoint,

16:00you have to take advantage of this time that you have Nathan McKinnon playing at his peak. And while

16:05they do going forward and long-term thinking is great, and someone can clip this and put it out

16:10in a year when Colorado is skating around with the Stanley cup. Um, and they just had 15 goals in

16:16the playoffs and say, look at this, they figured it out and they actually made the right move.

16:19But I just think you have to maximize your minutes with Nathan McKinnon. And I don't think they did

16:26that this year with the, the, the Rantanen move. I still think Carolina screwed that one up the most

16:31personally, but I, I still think from a Colorado standpoint, they're going to have a long time to

16:36talk about this now. We'll talk about it a little bit more on the off season preview, uh, next week,

16:39but this one's, this one's a tough one for the Colorado avalanche to, uh, stomach, but again,

16:46just a phenomenal, phenomenal weekend in the sport of hockey.

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