Neal Pionk's goal in OT sends Jets past Avs

Neal Pionk scored his second goal of the game 31 seconds into overtime, and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 in Denver on Wednesday night.

Sam Gagner and Cole Perfetti also scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for the Jets. Winnipeg played without head coach Rick Bowness for the third straight game due to a positive COVID-19 test.

Mikko Rantanen had two goals and an assist, Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and an assist and Alexandar Georgiev turned away 24 shots for the Avalanche.

Colorado will be without captain Gabriel Landeskog for three months after he had arthroscopic surgery on his knee, the team announced.

The Avalanche won the opening faceoff in overtime, but after missing a chance, Pionk got the puck, skated into the Colorado zone and beat Georgiev for his second of the season.

The Jets struck twice in the first period. Gagner made it 1-0 when he knocked in a rebound on the power play at 6:52 for his second goal of the season.

Later in the period, with the teams skating 4-on-4, Mason Appleton fed Pionk as he skated into the right circle, and his one-timer beat Georgiev on the far side to put Winnipeg ahead by two goals.

The Avalanche got one back early in the second period when Nathan MacKinnon sent a pass to Rantanen on the opposite side of the net, and he beat Hellebuyck at 2:14.

The Jets answered midway through the second when Blake Wheeler feathered a pass across the zone to Perfetti, who buried the puck into the wide-open net at 9:44. It was his first of the season.

Colorado rallied late in the second period. Bowen Byram got a pass from Nichushkin, skated close to the net before feeding Rantanen on the other side. He tapped it by Hellebuyck at 16:26 for his second of the night and third of the season.

Two minutes later the Avalanche scored on the power play when Rantanen passed it to Nichushkin in the slot, and his wrister went in at 18:27. It was his fifth of the season.