DENVER — Neal Pionk was just hoping he didn’t miss the net and have the puck come down the other way.
But the Winnipeg Jets defenceman, sporting a nasty cut held together by seven stitches under his right eye thanks to a butt-end earlier in the week, hit his target with dramatic precision on Wednesday.
Pionk’s second goal of the game, courtesy of a booming blast in overtime, gave his team a hard-fought 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.
“He was locked and loaded,” said associate coach Scott Arniel. “He pounded that. That was a heck of a shot.”
“I got a little lucky, but it was a good shot,” Pionk said with a smirk in the dressing room at Ball Arena.
The final result is a solid confidence builder for a club searching for an identity early in the season, especially against the Stanley Cup champions in their own backyard.
Winnipeg improves to 2-1-0, while Colorado falls to 2-1-1.
There was plenty to like about the Jets’ effort, especially after starting the road trip with a bit of a thud on Monday night in Dallas (4-1 loss) that undid some of the good in a season-opening win over the New York Rangers last week.
Here’s a breakdown of what stood out:
1) Opportunity came knocking for Mason Appleton, and the 26-year-old responded with perhaps the game of his career. He was promoted to the top line with Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele after Nikolaj Ehlers couldn’t play due to a nagging lower-body injury that flared up during the morning skate.
“I thought we did a good job early. They picked their game up and they had some sustained O-zone time later in the game, but I thought we did some good things. It’s obviously fun playing with two very elite guys,” Appleton said.
Appleton was tremendous. He set up both goals by Pionk, making a terrific play in overtime when took out Nathan MacKinnon along the boards with a hit, then chipped the puck up to the Jets blue-liner for a two-on-one rush with Adam Lowry that ended in celebration.
“That was awesome. In 3-on-3, you play a lot of man-on-man but for him to read that and to get a piece of him and get the body on him there, it creates the two-on-one and is just a great, smart hockey play,” said Arniel.
2) With Colorado sending superstars MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar over the boards to start overtime, Arniel opted to go for a more defensive-minded trio of Appleton, Pionk and Adam Lowry.
“We just wanted to make sure that we nullified what they were throwing out there at us on that first shift,” said Arniel.
Turning the tide and putting the puck in the opponent’s net would go down as a most pleasant and unexpected development.
“I’d say shut them down first, play defence first, but if we get an opportunity let’s put it in the net and let’s end it,” Pionk said of the mentality. “It’s a lot of faith and a lot of trust the coaches have to put us out there, and we did the job.”
3) A pair of players made their Jets season debuts. Dylan Samberg had a solid, physical game on the blue line paired with Dylan DeMelo, while waiver pickup Axel Jonsson-Fjallby provided plenty of speed and energy skating on the fourth line with David Gustafsson and Sam Gagner.
Speaking of Gagner, how shrewd is that free agent signing looking now? He scored for the second time in four games, giving the Jets an early 1-0 lead on the power play after a feed from Cole Perfetti to Lowry. Pionk then doubled the advantage before the opening frame was over.
4) On the subject of Perfetti, he had his strongest game of the year so far, as his line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Blake Wheeler gave the Jets a 3-1 lead midway through the second period. It’s the first goal in three games for the trio.
“They had a really good game,” said Arniel. “They spent an awful lot of time in the offensive zone. It’s early, the chemistry is still building. Just to see them, when they do get the puck, manhandle guys down low. That’s what Wheels does well, that’s what Dubie does well. Cole, he has to get to those areas. 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 real good decisions, and when he had to get back he did a good job. That line got rewarded with good work.”
5) Winnipeg is showing signs of a more structured game in its own end, but some old habits die hard. That was evident on the pair of second period goals by Rantanen (to cut the Winnipeg lead to 2-1, then 3-2). They were nearly identical, with the Jets unable to clear their zone, hemmed in for an extended period and ultimately made to pay. Valeri Nichushkin then tied the game on the power play late in the middle frame, and it seemed like this one could get away fast.
“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,” said Arniel.
6) Connor Hellebuyck was rock-solid, stopping 30 of 33 shots. He’ll likely get his first breather of the season with backup David Rittich expected to make his debut Thursday in Las Vegas as the Jets finish off the road trip against the 3-1-0 Golden Knights. (9 p.m. CT, TSN3).
As for the status of Ehlers, it remains touch-and-go.
“We’re still trying to figure him out here. It’s been nagging. We’ll just discuss it (Thursday) and see where it goes,” said Arniel.
Winnipeg has no extra healthy forwards on the roster right now. Defencemen Logan Stanley and Kyle Capobianco were the two other scratches.
The Jets were also without head coach Rick Bowness for a third straight game as he continues to recover from COVID in Winnipeg. There was some hope he would join them in time for the games in Denver and Sin City, but that has now changed.
The hope now is the 67-year-old Bowness will make his Jets 2.0 debut on Saturday when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs at Canada Life Centre.
Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg
Mike McIntyre
Sports columnist
Mike McIntyre grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler. But when that dream fizzled, he put all his brawn into becoming a professional writer.
