Jets rally from four goals down late in 3rd, shock Canadiens in OT to end skid at nine

MONTREAL -- The Winnipeg Jets rallied from four goals down in the dying minutes of the third period before shocking the Montreal Canadiens with a 5-4 overtime victory at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

Winnipeg, which entered the game on a nine-game losing streak (0-7-2), began its comeback with 2:39 remaining in regulation. Tyrel Bauer scored his first NHL goal to make it 4-1 after Dylan DeMelo's dump-in took a funny bounce off the left boards.

“That’s a long, hard stretch, but this group believed in each other,” Bauer said. “We’re proud of that. We had each other’s backs in that room, you know? The guys had my back on the ice tonight. I mean, I blacked out for the rest of it, but that was fun. We needed that as a group. We’re going to run with that and we’re not looking back.”

Morgan Barron made it 4-2 at 18:03, electing to shoot on a 2-on-1 and beating Jacob Fowler glove side with a shot off the crossbar from the right circle.

Kyle Connor then scored twice on one-timers from the right circle with Stuart Skinner pulled for the extra attacker. He cut it to 4-3 with one minute remaining before scoring again with a shot that deflected in off the stick of Canadiens defenseman Noah Dobson to tie it 4-4 with 33 seconds left.

“What a way to end the streak we were on there, and it seemed like it was coming,” Connor said. “I think we just came into today with such a good attitude and tried to live in the present and just manufacture some kind of positivity and jump even if it wasn’t there.”

Dylan Samberg completed the crazy comeback at 3:30 of overtime. Gabriel Vilardi took the puck away from Lane Hutson along the boards, allowing Adam Lowry to feed a cutting Samberg, who scored blocker side from right circle.

The Jets' four-goal comeback victory was the latest in NHL history. The Los Angeles Kings held the previous record, beginning their comeback against the Dallas Stars at 52:46 on Nov. 10, 2007.

“I don’t know that I’ve wanted to win a hockey game more in my life,” Bauer said. “... That’s a special feeling, especially for that group right now. It’s no secret what we just went through, and in a game where we thought we were playing well and we were doing some good things and we still couldn’t find it, you know, we knew something had to give, and it finally did.”

Bauer and Barron each finished with a goal and an assist, and DeMelo and Mark Scheifele each had two assists for the Jets (5-8-3), who were coming off a 7-0 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday. Skinner made 18 saves.

“We needed something to happen, some kind of crazy thing to happen, and four goals in 2:06, that doesn’t happen very often, if ever,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “It was amazing. That felt like a playoff win in there. I’m so happy for them and they’re so happy for each other.”

Cole Caufield scored twice, and Juraj Slafkovsky had two assists for the Canadiens (9-3-3), who had won five in a row but extended their point streak to eight games (6-0-2). Fowler made 42 saves.

“You look at that game, we were winning but we weren’t beating them,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said.

Owen Beck gave Montreal a 1-0 lead at 3:05 of the first period, scoring from the top of the left circle for his first goal of the season.

Josh Anderson made it 2-0 at 18:18. He got the puck along the boards, skated into the slot, and lifted a backhand over Skinner.

Caufield extended the lead to 3-0 with a power-play goal at 4:00 of the second period, burying a rebound past a diving Skinner from the bottom of the left circle.

Caufield then made it 4-0 with another power-play goal 46 seconds into the third period. He roofed a shot from a sharp angle over the shoulder of Skinner, who was anticipating a cross-crease pass to Alex Newhook.

“The guys thought the game was over, I think,” Caufield said. “Listen, a four-goal lead, there’s no excuse for this. Yeah, it was terrible.”

Fowler came within 2:39 of his second shutout in three games, stopping the first 37 shots he faced before Bauer’s goal began the Jets’ unprecedented comeback.

“We had 86 shot attempts tonight,” Arniel said. “We spent a lot of time in their end of the rink. That young Fowler kid, wow. That’s twice now I’ve seen him. I don’t want to see him anymore.”

NOTES: The Jets scored their fastest four goals in a game in franchise history (2:06). Their previous record was four goals in 2:16 set on Nov. 9, 1984. ... Caufield has now scored against every NHL team, including the Arizona Coyotes.