In Denver, the Winnipeg Jets’ Neal Pionk hot for a double on Wednesday night in a 4=3 win for the Jets over the Avalanche. 
“Shoot hard in case you hit the puck,” Pionk said. “I was going far side. I got a little lucky, but it was a good shot.
“They shot it wide and it caromed around the boards. It’s a simple play but it doesn’t go unnoticed. [Mason Appleton] used his big body, made a nice little play to me, and I put it in the net.”
Pionk’s second of the game was the winner in extra time.
Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves in the Winnipeg win.
“For what was it, 34 minutes, we were pretty good,” associate coach Scott Arniel said. “We turned some pucks over in our end of the rink and they got it back [to even]. Our big message going into the third is that we were in a tie game on the road. Just stick to what we had done for most of the game. That was our details and the stuff we talked about this morning, our compete and just protecting our net-front, and we found a way to win.”
Valeri Nichushkin scored his fifth goal of the season for Colorado.
“That’s a hardworking team over there,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “They’re a deep team, especially the forward group. And to me, we weren’t skating or engaged enough to start. Really liked the second half of our game.”
Mikko Rantanen potted a pair of goals for the Avs in the loss.
“They were skating faster on the loose pucks, just winning battles, and I think we were just not moving as we should,” Rantanen said. “It’s our biggest strength, skating. We didn’t do it in the first.”
Pionk and Sam Gagner scored in the opening period to give the Jets a 2-0 lead.
The Avs replied with three goals in the middle frame. Cole Perfetti offset those three with his goal of the game.
“That line (Perfetti, Wheeler, Pierre-Luc Dubois) went a little under the radar; they had a really good game,” Arniel said. “They spent an awful lot of time in the offensive zone. That was probably the best game I’ve seen Cole play just through exhibition and the first couple. He was real good, real smart with the puck, and [made] real good decisions. And when he had to get back, he did a good job. That line got rewarded with good work.”
The third period was scoreless.
Pionk hit for his second goal of the game in the extra session for the 4-3 win.
Alexandar Georgiev made 24 saves in the loss for the Avs.
“[Nichushkin is] playing like he did last year. He’s skating,” Rantanen said. “He’s a really big guy. Hard to get the puck off him, so he’s doing well, and he’s scoring on his chances too. So, good to see that.”
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