Pionk propels Jets past Avalanche in OT

DENVER -- Neal Pionk scored 17 seconds into overtime, giving the Winnipeg Jets a 3-2 victory against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Wednesday.

Pionk carried the puck into the offensive zone and won it with a slap shot from the top of the right face-off circle to the far post.

“We saw a very similar goal here in this building, I think two years ago. Neal's going down that wing and taking a slapper far side,” Winnipeg defenseman Josh Morrissey said. “A few of us were talking after, when he picked the puck up and had the room. We kind of had flashbacks, and I think he even outdid that last shot with this one. It was a perfect shot. Had a good angle at it, and huge win.”

Pionk said of the shot, “Puck must go a little faster in the altitude. I don't know what it is. Just made a good shot.”

Morgan Barron and Gabriel Vilardi scored, and Morrissey and Vladislav Namestnikov each had two assists for the Jets (32-14-3), who had lost two straight. Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves and had the secondary assist on the winning goal.

“We had to use our whole bench to be strong tonight,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “Took longer than 60 minutes, but it was a battle.

“I really liked how we played, and there's a lot of good things off of that.”

Nathan MacKinnon scored to extend his home point streak to 12 games (seven goals, 12 assists), and Cale Makar also had a goal for the Avalanche (28-19-2), who have lost three of four. Jonathan Drouin had two assists, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 22 saves.

“Way fewer mistakes than some of our previous losses,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “Competed hard. Yeah, I liked our game. You always want it to be better, but I can't fault our effort, our competitiveness tonight. Did a lot of good things. Hellebuyck was good again. I thought we generated enough to win the game.”

MacKinnon gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 6:09 of the second period when he scored on his own rebound past a sprawling Hellebuyck. His initial shot hit the right post and caromed to him in the right circle.

“The couple goals we did have were great plays,” Avalanche defenseman Keaton Middleton said. “I thought we had a stride in the right direction, but it's still a bummer we lost, right? We come for two points, not one.”

Barron tied it 1-1 at 10:56, redirecting David Gustafsson’s backdoor pass at the left post.

“It's a hard league, and if you want to stay on the outside, you're not going to get much,” Arniel said. “You have to get inside to find sometimes those greasy goals. We may take an extra shot, maybe get banged on a little bit, but at the end of the day, when you score goals like that, the reward's nice.”

Vilardi put Winnipeg in front 2-1 at 18:44 when Morrissey’s shot from above the left circle deflected off him at the left side of the net. It was Vilardi’s 20th goal of the season.

“I saw him on the side of the net and tried to shoot it at him. He's got great hands,” Morrissey said of Vilardi. “I was getting ribbed by a couple guys, specifically [MacKinnon] on that one. Just, 'You missed the net by four feet.' I was like, ‘Hey, is what it is.’"

Makar tied it 2-2 at 7:05 of the third period. He took a pass from Mikko Rantanen on the rush, went backhand-to-forehand at the bottom of the left circle and scored high to the far side while falling down.

“He's an unbelievable player,” Morrissey said. “Broke it out from one knee and came up the ice with a lot of speed. Obviously, he got outside and scored a nice goal. [I] skate a lot with him in the summer, see that kind of play happen a lot in 2-on-2 and 3-on-3. And obviously, he translates that and does it night in and night out in the NHL, so special player. Obviously would have liked to stop it.”

NOTES: Morrissey had his 75th career multipoint game, moving him into a tie with Marian Hossa for the ninth most in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history. … Pionk tied Mathieu Perreault (Dec. 3, 2014, against the Edmonton Oilers) and Bryan Little (Dec. 3, 2016, against the St. Louis Blues) for the second-fastest goal to start overtime in Jets/Thrashers history, behind Andrew Ladd (16 seconds on March 30, 2012, against the Carolina Hurricanes). … Winnipeg forward Mason Appleton had one shot on goal in 11:53 of ice time after missing the previous 11 games with a lower-body injury. … MacKinnon is one goal shy of becoming the fifth player in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history with 10 or more 20-goal seasons (Joe Sakic, 17; Milan Hejduk, 11; Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet, 10).