Winnipeg Jets seize opportunity with 4-2 win over Avs as wild card race tightens

There is no way anyone expected the Jets to be just three points back of a wild card spot with nine games to go, but that’s exactly where they find themselves after opening a four-game road trip with a big 4-2 win over the NHL-leading Avalanche in Colorado.

For those who would like to take a deeper dive into the advanced stats click here to see the results from the game via Natural Stat Trick.

Notable:

Somewhat unexpectedly both Parker Ford and Danny Zhilkin got inserted into the lineup for the Jets.

Gabriel Vilardi sets a new career high for goals with his 28th of the season as he opened the scoring to make it 1-0 for the Jets. He also tied his career high for points with 61.

On the first goal for the Avs, phenom Cale Makar got his 500th NHL point.

After not scoring in his first 17 games as a Jet, Cole Koepke has now scored 7 times in 40 games. Fairly certain this is exactly how they drew this one up to give Winnipeg a 2-1 lead.

The Jets took the lead for good with Cole Perfetti’s 11th goal of the season. It was also Gabriel Vilardi’s second point of the game which set a new career high in points as he’s at 62 eclipsing his high set last year.

With Kyle Connor adding his 33rd into the empty net the Jets won it 4-2 to pick up a big two points to get them to 74 points. Why big you ask? Because both the Predators (77) and Kings (76) lost in regulation which means Winnipeg will end the night just three back of the final wild card spot.

Multi Point Game:

Gabriel Vilardi 1G 1A

Highlights:

Coach availability:

To follow.

Illegal Curve Post-Game Show:

Up next:

The Jets are off tomorrow. Start your day with the Morning Papers which will go live at 7 AM CST tomorrow on illegalcurve.com.

Podcast:

To follow.

David Minuk

Working hard on a daily basis to provide the latest Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose news for our readers and listeners. I also appear on the Illegal Curve Hockey Show every Saturday on our YouTube channel as well as the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show after every single Jets game. And I occasionally jump in the play-by-play booth at Canada Life to provide colour analysis during Manitoba Moose games.

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