{"id":528991,"date":"2026-03-29T08:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T08:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/528991\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T08:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T08:04:30","slug":"jets-edge-avalanche-in-tight-western-conference-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/528991\/","title":{"rendered":"Jets Edge Avalanche in Tight Western Conference Matchup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"submission-link-wrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.nationaltoday.com\/news?location=Denver%2C+CO&amp;city=Denver&amp;type=Update+Existing+Story&amp;headline=Jets+Edge+Avalanche+in+Tight+Western+Conference+Matchup&amp;page=https%3A%2F%2Fnationaltoday.com%2Fus%2Fco%2Fdenver%2Fnews%2F2026%2F03%2F29%2Fjets-edge-avalanche-in-tight-western-conference-matchup%2F\" class=\"submission-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Cole Perfetti scored the go-ahead goal with 5:11 left in the third period, Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves, and the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 in Denver. The win moves the Jets within three points of Nashville for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference playoff race.<\/p>\n<p>      Why it matters<\/p>\n<p>This was a crucial game for the Jets as they look to secure a postseason berth, while the Avalanche are battling to maintain their lead atop the West. The tight contest highlighted the intensity of the Western Conference playoff race.<\/p>\n<p>            The details<\/p>\n<p>Winnipeg opened the scoring on a first-period goal by Gabriel Vilardi, but Colorado tied it on a power-play tally from Brock Nelson. The Jets regained the lead in the second on a goal by Cole Koepke, only to see Parker Kelly even the score again for the Avalanche. In the third, Perfetti&#8217;s late redirection proved to be the game-winner for the Jets, who also got an empty-net goal from Kyle Connor to seal the victory.<\/p>\n<p>      The game was played on March 29, 2026 in Denver.Perfetti scored the go-ahead goal with 5:11 remaining in the third period.<\/p>\n<p>        The players<\/p>\n<p>        Cole Perfetti<\/p>\n<p>The Winnipeg Jets forward scored the decisive late goal to lift his team to victory.<\/p>\n<p>Connor Hellebuyck<\/p>\n<p>The Jets goaltender made 21 saves to backstop his team to the win.<\/p>\n<p>Brock Nelson<\/p>\n<p>The Colorado Avalanche forward scored a power-play goal to tie the game in the first period.<\/p>\n<p>Cale Makar<\/p>\n<p>The Avalanche defenseman recorded his 500th career point, the fourth fastest by a blueliner in NHL history.<\/p>\n<p>Kyle Connor<\/p>\n<p>The Jets forward sealed the victory with an empty-net goal in the final minutes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.nationaltoday.com\/news?location=Denver%2C+CO&amp;city=Denver&amp;type=Upload+Story+Photos&amp;headline=Jets+Edge+Avalanche+in+Tight+Western+Conference+Matchup&amp;page=https%3A%2F%2Fnationaltoday.com%2Fus%2Fco%2Fdenver%2Fnews%2F2026%2F03%2F29%2Fjets-edge-avalanche-in-tight-western-conference-matchup%2F\" class=\"submission-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Got photos? Submit your photos here. \u203a<\/a><br \/>\n            What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n<p class=\"news-quote-quote\">\u201cWe knew this was a big game for us in the playoff race, and the guys really stepped up in the third period to get the win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"news-quote-cite\">\u2014 Rick Bowness, Winnipeg Jets Head Coach<\/p>\n<p>            What\u2019s next<\/p>\n<p>The Jets will look to build on this victory as they continue their push for a postseason berth, while the Avalanche will aim to regain their footing atop the Western Conference standings.<\/p>\n<p>        The takeaway<\/p>\n<p>This hard-fought battle between two Western Conference contenders highlighted the intensity of the playoff race, with the Jets delivering a clutch late-game performance to gain ground in the standings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a Cole Perfetti scored the go-ahead goal with 5:11 left in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,192,144,5277,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-528991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-colorado","10":"tag-colorado-avalanche","11":"tag-coloradoavalanche","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116311433717688964","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}