In Denver Wednesday, the Colorado Avalanche continued their remarkable renaissance this season with a 3-2 win in overtime over the Winnipeg Jets.
Nathan MacKinnon scored the game-winner just 59 seconds into the extra session.
Nathan MacKinnon scored twice in OT with the second one giving the Avs a 3-2 win over Winnipeg Wednesday night – file photo courtesy of Lewis Bleiman
“What can you do at that point?,” MacKinnon said. “We kept our composure well, we didn’t want to panic. Stuff happens. They’re a really good team and we didn’t play our best for sure. We have to be better than that, but a win’s a win and we’ll take it.”
It was the second goal for MacKinnon of the OT; his first was waved off for an offside call.
Semyon Varlamov made 31 saves to pick up the win.
The Avs played a solid defensive game and kept the Jets to the outside once they entered the zone, leaving little room for passing or play setting.
“We just couldn’t get a good handle on a lot of things tonight. Forward-moving pucks, it was a tough game. Tough game for them to grind through. We had some guys just a bit off, but they worked at it. They competed hard, it was a hard, grinding game, it just wasn’t a sharp game,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said after the OT loss.
Bryan Little and Josh Morrissey scored for the Jets as they took 1-0 and 2-1 leads but could not build off either lead.
Nikita Zadorov scored for the Avs and Alexander Kerfoot tied the game in the thid with a power play goal.
“Huge win, especially coming from behind,” Kerfoot said. “It’s hard to do in this league, something we haven’t done a lot of in the past. We know we’ve been playing good hockey at home and we want to keep it up.”
[WATCH: All Jets vs. Avalanche highlights]
“Two lucky ones in a row, one gets called back and the other one, it seems like it was destined to happen,” Hellebuyck said. “This one hurts because we got them down with eight minutes left and I feel like I can close them out better than that.”
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