Avalanche rally to defeat Jets in overtime

DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon scored a power-play goal 59 seconds into overtime to give the Colorado Avalanche a 3-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Pepsi Center on Wednesday.
MacKinnon scored 30 seconds earlier during a 4-on-3 after the Jets were penalized for too many men at 19:52 of the third period, but Tyson Barrie was ruled to be offside following a challenge by Jets coach Paul Maurice.

"What can you do at that point?" said MacKinnon, who has three game-winning goals, two in overtime, this season. "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."
WATCH: [All Jets vs. Avalanche highlights]
Alex Kerfoot passed to MacKinnon at the top of the face-off circles for a shot that hit Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey and caromed past goalie Connor Hellebuyck to the stick side for his eighth goal.
"It was maybe three feet wide and they got a lucky bounce off a hip or something," said Hellebuyck, who made 23 saves. "I just know for a fact it wasn't on net."
The MacKinnon goal that was disallowed went in off Morrissey's stick blade.
"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."
Nikita Zadorov tied the game with 8:03 left in the third period for the Avalanche (12-9-2), who are 1-1-0 in the first two games of a five-game homestand.

Zadorov scored six seconds after the Avalanche finished killing off a tripping penalty to Mark Barberio. Blake Comeau passed to Zadorov, who carried the puck into the Jets end and scored his third goal.
"I went down and took a shot, saw the corner was open on him and got it in," Zadorov said.
Bryan Little and Morrissey scored for the Jets (15-6-4), who are 7-2-1 in the past 10 games.
Little gave the Jets a 2-1 lead at 4:08 of the third period during a 4-on-4. Nikolaj Ehlers skated into the Avalanche end and took a shot that goalie Semyon Varlamov (31 saves) stopped with his right pad, and Little put in the rebound for his third goal in four games and fifth of the season.
"That's kind of what they gave you, it was all you could get against them," Little said. "They did a good job shutting you down off the rush. That one was what we were trying to do later in the game, just throw pucks at the net and go there for a rebound and try to bang something home. That's really all we had most of the night."
The Jets took a 1-0 lead at 8:43 of the first period on Morrissey's first goal in 17 games and third overall. Mark Scheifele passed to Morrissey above the face-off circles for a shot that beat Varlamov to the stick side.

The Avalanche tied it 1-1 at 13:23 on Kerfoot's power-play goal. MacKinnon took a shot and Hellebuyck made a save, but J.T. Compher chipped the rebound to Kerfoot and he put it inside the right post for his eighth 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."

Goal of the game

MacKinnon's power-play goal at 59 seconds of overtime.

Save of the game

Hellebuyck stops MacKinnon with 6:45 remaining in the third period.

Highlight of the game

Little's goal at 4:08 of the third period.

They said it

"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 coach Paul Maurice
"I was playing a lot better than I did tonight. My whole life isn't wrapped around points, goals and assists. I'm focused on playing well, focused on the process whether I get points or not."-- Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, who had 20 points (five goals, 15 assists) in 12 games in November

Need to know

Hellebuyck allowed two goals or fewer in 13 of his previous 17 starts. ... Scheifele has 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in his past 16 games. ... Barrie, who had an assist on MacKinnon's goal, has 209 NHL points, moving him past Ron Blake into fourth place among defensemen in franchise history.

What's next

Jets: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Avalanche: Host the New Jersey Devils on Friday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, MSG+2, NHL.TV)