Two goals from Neal Pionk helped the Jets hold off the defending Stanley Cup champions for a 4-3 overtime victory. The Jets inflict a second defeat in four games in Colorado and sign their third win of the campaign.
In addition to doubling the Jets’ first-period lead with his first goal of the season, Pionk came back in overtime as the heroes to complete his double.
The game started on good footing in the Jets camp. Sam Gagner took advantage of a power play to score his second goal since the start of the campaign and open the scoring.
Then moments later, Pionk hit the target on assists from Mason Appleton and Josh Morrissey to double the Jets’ lead.
In great shape since the start of the campaign with six points in three games, Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen picked up where he left off. In the second period, Rantanen redirected a pass from Nathan MacKinnon to close the gap to one goal.
The Jets, however, provided the answer midway through the middle period when Cole Perfetti opened his scoring to restore a two-goal lead to Winnipeg. Quebecer Pierre-Luc Dubois picked up an assist on the streak.
Thanks to the brilliance of the Rantanen-Valeri Nichushkin duo, Colorado managed to bring everyone back to square one. Rantanen scored his second goal of the match first, before seeing Nichushkin thread the needle to tie the game 3-3.
Rantanen has nine points in four games this season and is second in Bettman League scoring behind Artemi Panarin.
In overtime, just 31 seconds into the game, Pionk fired a powerful slapshot from the front end to beat Alexandar Georgiev and give the Jets the win.
The Avalanche goalie stopped 24 of 28 shots he faced in the loss. At the other end of the ice, Connor Hellebuyck offered a good performance with 30 saves.
Nichushkin has hit the mark in all four of the Avalanche’s games this season. Rantanen’s two-goal night took his career tally to 168. He is now the 10th goalscorer in team history.
