Pionk scores the OT winner as Winnipeg Jets edge Avalanche 3-2

Now that’s the benignant of show a manager tin beryllium pleased with.

Coming disconnected a unsmooth nonaccomplishment successful Utah that caput manager Scott Arniel described with an expletive, the Winnipeg Jets bounced backmost with a hard-earned 3-2 overtime triumph successful Denver Wednesday nighttime implicit the Colorado Avalanche.

Both teams failed to find the backmost of the nett successful the first, some failing connected a powerfulness play accidental but the champion accidental belonged to Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon. With the Avs connected a powerfulness play, helium zoomed up the ice, undressed Neal Pionk and tossed a backhander connected net. It went done Connor Hellebuyck but it deed the station and coiled up sitting down Hellebuyck successful the crease earlier helium froze it for a whistle.

MacKinnon would not beryllium denied successful the second, however. With a fewer Jets stuck retired astatine the extremity of a agelong shift, the dynamic guardant took advantage, collecting a walk astatine the Winnipeg bluish enactment and darting astir Nino Niederreiter and into a ton of unfastened crystal successful the slot. His archetypal changeable deed the station but helium was archetypal to the rebound and fired it into an unfastened nett to unfastened the scoring astatine the 6:09 mark.

It stayed 1-0 until the 10:56 people erstwhile Winnipeg’s 4th enactment got a uncommon tally. David Gustafsson skated the puck into the Colorado extremity on the right-hand partition earlier sliding a cleanable backhand walk crossed the crystal to Morgan Barron for a net-front tap-in, drafting the Jets level. It was Gustafsson’s archetypal constituent of the season.

Winnipeg grabbed their archetypal pb of the nighttime aft the Avalanche iced the puck with little than 2 minutes to spell successful the second. The Jets won the faceoff, cycled the puck and got a fewer shots connected nett earlier a Josh Morrissey constituent changeable went disconnected Gabriel Vilardi’s limb and past Mackenzie Blackwood with 1:16 to spell successful the period.

The Jets entered the nighttime with a 22-0-1 grounds erstwhile starring aft 2 but that would beryllium enactment to the trial by the Avalanche, who tied the crippled conscionable implicit 7 minutes into the third.

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Mikko Rantanen carried the puck into the Winnipeg extremity earlier dropping it disconnected to Cale Makar. The speedy blueliner skated towards the nett and arsenic helium was being tripped by Dylan DeMelo, helium lifted the puck implicit Hellebuyck’s mitt to necktie the game.

The crippled stayed tied heavy into the 3rd erstwhile Colorado was fixed a questionable powerfulness play with conscionable implicit 4 minutes left. Nikolaj Ehlers caught MacKinnon with a hep cheque successful the Winnipeg portion but was assessed a tripping punishment connected the play. Controversy was avoided erstwhile the Jets killed it off, mounting the signifier for overtime.

Colorado won the gully but a missed walk gave Winnipeg the puck, allowing Neal Pionk to skate the puck into the Avalanche portion wherever helium coiled up and ripped a slapshot from the apical of the close faceoff dot and past Blackwood to extremity the crippled conscionable 17 seconds into the other frame. It was Pionk’s 3rd vocation overtime winner.

Winnipeg played the crippled without skipper Adam Lowry, who went connected injured reserve earlier the crippled with an upper-body wounded and is retired week-to-week. Mason Appleton made his instrumentality to the lineup aft missing astir a period of action.

The Jets instrumentality location to big Utah connected Friday. The enactment begins conscionable aft 7 p.m. with pregame sum connected 680 CJOB starting astatine 5 p.m.