Now it is The kind of performance that coaches will be happy with.
Head coach Scott Arniel suffered a tough loss in Utah, described by head coach Scott Arniel, as the Winnipeg Jets earned a hard-earned 3-2 overtime win against division rival Colorado Avalanche in Denver on Wednesday night.
Neil Pionk ended the thriller with a slapper from the top of the circle just 17 seconds into the OT period to give the Jets the victory. It was nearly identical to the second overtime goal he scored in the same building in 2022.
“The puck should go a little faster in height,” Pionk joked. “I don’t know what it is. Yeah no, just made a good shot.”
Morgan Baron and Gabriel Vilardi scored the other goals for Winnipeg.
The Jets played without their captain, Adam Lowry, week-to-week after suffering an upper-body injury. But Winnipeg had two players back from injury as Mason Appleton returned from an 11-game absence, while Hayden Fleury returned to the lineup after sitting out the last 12 games.
The Jets beat the Avs for third place this season in their fourth and final meeting of the campaign.
“It was a battle,” Arniel said. “We had a lot of zone time against them. They certainly got a lot against us. We had to use our entire bench to be strong tonight.
“But I really liked the way we played. There were many good things among them. “
Arniel called his last effort embarrassing in a loss to Utah and his team responded with a big two points.
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“I think he’s a good coach challenging us,” Josh Morrissey said. “We have asked for it. We want to progress like an elite team and we are an elite team this year. So, while we haven’t had our Best games this year, we’ve responded well.
“I thought we battled hard and it wasn’t perfect but it’s a hockey game, and he found a way to get two points.”
The Jets hit a key penalty in the final four minutes of regulation to send the game into overtime.
“We had some good sticks,” Arniel said. “There were a couple where they came up the middle with him or tried to make plays.
“We did a good job of packing it in, but when we had opportunities to fumble and get loose pucks, we did.”
Both teams failed to find the back of the net in the first. Both failed on power play opportunities but the Best chance was Colorado’s Nathan McKinnon. With the Avs on the power play, he zoomed up the ice, stripped Pionk and threw a backhander over the net. It went past Connor Hellebuyck but hit the post and was injured before he settled it for the whistle as he sat behind Hellebuyck in the crease.
However, McKinnon would not be denied in the second. With a few Jets stalling at the end of a long shift, the dynamic forward took advantage, collecting a pass at the Winnipeg blueline and darting around Nino Niederreiter and into the slot in a ton of open ice. His initial shot hit the post but he was first on the rebound and fired it into an open net to open the scoring at the 6:09 mark.
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It remained 1-0 until the 10:56 mark when Winnipeg’s fourth line got a rare tally. David Gustafson skated the puck in the Colorado end along the right side wall before sliding a perfect backhand pass across the ice to Barron for a net-front tap-in, drawing the Jets level. It was Gustafsson’s first point of the season.
Winnipeg took 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 Morrissey point shot bounced off Vilardi’s legs and past Mackenzie Blackwood with 1:16 to go in the period.
The Jets entered the night with a 22-0-1 record while leading after two but would be tested by the Avalanche, who tied the game just seven minutes into the third.
Mikko Rantanen took the puck to the Winnipeg end before releasing it to Cal Makar. The speedy blueliner skated toward the net and when he was tripped by Dylan DeMello, he lifted the puck over Hellebuyck’s glove to tie the game.
The game was tied in the third when Colorado was awarded a questionable power play with just over four minutes remaining. Nikolaj Ehlers caught McKinnon with a hip check in the Winnipeg zone but was assessed a tripping penalty on the play. Controversy was averted when the Jets killed it, setting the stage for overtime.
Colorado won the draw but a missed pass gave Winnipeg the puck, allowing Pionk to skate the puck into the Avalanche zone where he ripped a slapshot past Blackwood to end the game just 17 seconds into the extra frame. It was Pionk’s third career overtime winner.
The Jets return home to host Utah on Friday. The action begins after 7pm with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB starting at 5pm.
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