蜜芽传媒

WINNIPEG, Manitoba聽鈥� As you consider the absolutely unfathomable position the Blues found themselves in late Sunday night, becoming just the fourth team in NHL history to lose a playoff game it led by more than one goal with less than two minutes to play聽鈥� just the second to do it in a Game 7聽鈥� you also have to remember how preposterous it was for them to be in the position to be in that position in the first place.

The searing sting was certainly not going anywhere in the immediate aftermath of the game and nearest of near misses. Just 2.2 seconds, about the time it takes to read the first few words of this sentence, was all that stood between the Blues and the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Fate smiled on the Blues more than once in its club-record 12-game win streak that made the playoffs possible, but it exacted its revenge Sunday in Canada Life Centre.

鈥淣o one gave us a chance right from the very beginning,鈥� said captain Brayden Schenn in a somber session with reporters in a corridor near the Blues dressing room Sunday night. 鈥淏ut guys battled hard. Guys competed hard for one another. It's just a tough way to lose when you're that close to advancing.鈥�

It鈥檚 hard to come up with one tougher than being up 3-1 with two minutes to play, giving up two goals to go to overtime and then losing in sudden death.

It will take a lot to make the pain go away, and as anyone who has had surgery can tell you: The pain may go away, but the scar doesn鈥檛.

The Blues made so much progress, growth and across-the-board improvement since Jim Montgomery took over as coach, and that is overshadowed by two minutes of madness in Manitoba. But while the result will certainly dampen any enthusiasm, the progress is still there. The loss is the temporary darkness of a total eclipse rather than the start of a long night, or so it would seem.

"I think led by our captains and Doug Armstrong and his group,鈥� Montgomery said, 鈥淚 think what we did here in the last three months is we changed the culture back to where it needs to be聽鈥� to be able to grow and get better. Now we need to continue to have a great summer and grow as an organization on and off the ice so that we can continue to build off this. That's what we've done and we've got to continue to do it for our great fans.

鈥淎s a coach you try and hope to get your team to reach their ceiling. I think we came as close as we can in the last three months. I don't think we got there, but that was a great series, and I cannot thank our players enough for their commitment, effort and execution."

Any loss in a Game 7 of the playoffs is hard and a shock to the system, and overtime makes it even worse. One moment, you鈥檙e playing, the next you鈥檙e not. But even a lopsided loss would have been easier to take from everyone involved than Sunday鈥檚.

Over 58 minutes, the Blues built hopes that the impossible was not only possible but actually going to happen.

And then it didn鈥檛.

It was a season that needed a better ending, even if it still ended in elimination. This was definitely a case where the journey was better than the final destination.

That was one of the messages by Montgomery to his players after the game: It wasn鈥檛 easy to get where they got to.

鈥淚 wanted to thank them for their effort,鈥� he said, 鈥渢heir execution and their part in helping change things. It took everybody on deck to be able to do what we did. We went 19-4-3 down the stretch, and we tied the Flames to make the playoffs. It's special. The last three months are some of the most fun times I've had being part of a team. Whether it was a player or coach doesn't matter. It's because of the energy and positive attitudes and how we wanted to get better every day. So I thanked them for that. I'm very grateful for that."

鈥溍垩看�,鈥� said Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel, 鈥渨hat they鈥檝e done the last three months and these seven games, that was a tough out. That was a really tough out. And you know what, they made us battle for every inch. I tip my hat to Monty. What he鈥檚 done since he鈥檚 gotten there, without a doubt, they鈥檙e one of the best teams in the league since 4 Nations, and they鈥檙e hard to play against. I鈥檓 really not happy they鈥檙e in the Central Division but that鈥檚 our division and I can鈥檛 credit Monty enough.鈥�

Arniel termed the series 鈥渙ne for the ages,鈥� and whether it鈥檚 remembered for the Jets鈥� comeback or the Blues鈥� collapse may depend on your return address. Winnipeg had lost in the first round the past two seasons and won only one series since 2017-18, so Arniel knows the challenge of breaking through.

鈥淭he hardest thing in the NHL is to win the first round,鈥� Arniel said. 鈥淚t really is. You build confidence as you can, but it鈥檚 so hard to get through that first round."

And for a young team, the lessons learned are invaluable.

"It's only going to help us,鈥� Montgomery said. 鈥淲e have some young players. I don't know how many we have under 25. (There were six players 25 or younger in the lineup Sunday, with two others, notably Dylan Holloway, out injured.) But I think six of them are on the two power-play units. The exponential growth going through something like this is only going to help us for next year, but it's incumbent upon us to do the work to get better."

鈥淛ust a relentless group,鈥� said defenseman Colton Parayko, 鈥渁 group that was just willing to buy in for each other, do the little things for each other. Everyone's buying into the role. It's just a joy to come to the rink when, when things are going that way and we're playing that way.鈥�

There was no joy in Manitoba for the Blues.