Now that’s the kind of performance a coach can be pleased with.
Coming off a rough loss in Utah that head coach Scott Arniel described with an expletive, the Winnipeg Jets bounced back with a hard-earned 3-2 overtime win in Denver Wednesday night over the Colorado Avalanche.
Both teams failed to find the back of the net in the first, both failing on a power play chance but the best opportunity belonged to Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon. With the Avs on a power play, he zoomed up the ice, undressed Neal Pionk and tossed a backhander on net. It went through Connor Hellebuyck but it hit the post and wound up sitting behind Hellebuyck in the crease before he froze it for a whistle.
MacKinnon would not be denied in the second, however. With a few Jets stuck out at the end of a long shift, the dynamic forward took advantage, collecting a pass at the Winnipeg blue line and darting around Nino Niederreiter and into a ton of open ice in the slot. His initial shot hit the post but he was first to the rebound and fired it into an open net to open the scoring at the 6:09 mark.
It stayed 1-0 until the 10:56 mark when Winnipeg’s fourth line got a rare tally. David Gustafsson skated the puck into the Colorado end along the right-hand wall before sliding a perfect backhand pass across the ice to Morgan Barron for a net-front tap-in, drawing the Jets level. It was Gustafsson’s first point of the season.
Winnipeg grabbed their first lead of the night after the Avalanche iced the puck with less than two minutes to go in the second. The Jets won the faceoff, cycled the puck and got a few shots on net before a Josh Morrissey point shot went off Gabriel Vilardi’s leg and past Mackenzie Blackwood with 1:16 to go in the period.
The Jets entered the night with a 22-0-1 record when leading after two but that would be put to the test by the Avalanche, who tied the game just over seven minutes into the third.
Mikko Rantanen carried the puck into the Winnipeg end before dropping it off to Cale Makar. The speedy blueliner skated towards the net and as he was being tripped by Dylan DeMelo, he lifted the puck over Hellebuyck’s glove to tie the game.
The game stayed tied deep into the third when Colorado was given a questionable power play with just over four minutes left. Nikolaj Ehlers caught MacKinnon with a hip check in the Winnipeg zone but was assessed a tripping penalty on the play. Controversy was avoided when the Jets killed it off, setting the stage for overtime.
Colorado won the draw but a missed pass gave Winnipeg the puck, allowing Neal Pionk to skate the puck into the Avalanche zone where he wound up and ripped a slapshot from the top of the right faceoff dot and past Blackwood to end the game just 17 seconds into the extra frame. It was Pionk’s third career overtime winner.
Winnipeg played the game without captain Adam Lowry, who went on injured reserve before the game with an upper-body injury and is out week-to-week. Mason Appleton made his return to the lineup after missing nearly a month of action.
The Jets return home to host Utah on Friday. The action begins just after 7 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB starting at 5 p.m.