Perfetti scores late, Jets three back of Preds

WINNIPEG – Cole Perfetti scored with 5:11 left in the third period and that was the game winning goal in a 4-2 decision over the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena. Gabriel Vilardi, Cole Koepke and Kyle Connor also scored for the Jets who saw their record improve to 31-30-12. Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves and is 18-9-4 in his career against the Avalanche. The Jets will head to Chicago and play the second game of their road trip Tuesday against the Blackhawks.

TAKING ADVANTAGE

For a week and a half, the Jets have not made up any ground on the Nashville Predators for the eighth and final spot in the west. Tonight, the Jets pulled within three points of the Preds after they lost to the Montreal Canadiens 4-1, the Seattle Kraken also lost, albeit in a shootout.

“Oh, it’s huge. Every game’s huge, We need to win every game just to keep afloat right now, to try and stay tied and then make up ground. I’m not sure what the other scores are today, or if Nashville played or San Jose played or whatnot," said Gabriel Vilardi.

"We’ll take a look. But every game is big right now. This is a huge win, coming in to play the best team in the NHL right now. And winning. I’m not undermining that. It’s a good win for us."

PATIENT IN THE THIRD

In the Jets previous two meetings with the Avalanche, Colorado took over in the third period especially in the last battle between the two Central Division rivals Thursday night. Nathan MacKinnon scored on the power play to open the third and then added his second of the night 3:42 later to give the Avs the win. Tonight, the Jets only gave up four shots. Perfetti’s game winner came after some great work behind the net by Jonathan Toews, Toews gave the puck to Vilardi who send an indirect pass to Jacob Bryson and his shot was tipped by Perfetti. The Avs did challenge for goaltender interference claiming that Toews impeded Mackenzie Blackwood, however, the league felt differently and the goal stood.

FIRST GOAL IN FOUR STRAIGHT

One thing that has helped the Jets play so well since the Olympic break is their first period performances, and they got right to work in Denver tonight when Josh Morrissey sending a shot to the front of the Avalanche net that was redirected by Gabriel Vilardi for his career best 28^th goal of the season.

"We were trying not to get in these foot races and just having numbers over their numbers and just thought we did a really good job of just being sharp in that first period," said head coach Scott Arniel.

"The first goal helped us a lot. Kind of got us kind of settled in. And, from there, like I said, it was a real solid team effort from everybody."

Since Jan. 1, Winnipeg has scored the opening goal in 24 games, the highest mark in the NHL in that span. Winnipeg’s 43 games opening the scoring this season is already tied for the fifth-highest mark in franchise history with 9 games remaining.