Jets fail to make up ground

So close. And yet, so far.

The Winnipeg Jets blew a golden opportunity to make up ground in their playoff chase on Thursday evening, dropping a hard-fought 3-2 decision to the No. 1 ranked Colorado Avalanche at Canada Life Centre.

Nathan MacKinnon took over the game in the third period, scoring his league-leading 47th and 48th goals of the season to snap a tie. The Jets managed to claw back within a goal later in the final frame, but couldn’t find the equalizer — or even gain control of the puck in order to pull goaltender Connor Hellebuyck for an extra attacker.

“We battled to the end,” said centre Mark Scheifele. “Showed a lot of resilience against a really good hockey team. We were right there.”

If you’re a glass half-full kind of person, Winnipeg at least didn’t lose any ground in the Western Conference. The Nashville Predators, who hold the final wildcard spot, lost 4-2 in regulation to the New Jersey Devils. That means the deficit remains five points, now with 10 regular season games left.

But the Jets need to do more than simply tread water at this late stage of the season.

“Every game is huge for us, no matter the opponent,” said forward Cole Perfetti. “We need two points every single night, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing. If we have the effort and battle level we did (Thursday) night, most nights we’re going to get the right result.”

Winnipeg had grabbed points in three straight games (2-0-1) but now fall to 30-30-12. Colorado improves to 48-13-10.

SCHEIFELE STANDS ALONE

Scheifele had another milestone night at the office.

The 33-year-old suited up for his 951st game with the franchise that drafted him seventh-overall in 2011, meaning he now stands alone in Jets hockey history.

Scheifele passed Thomas Steen for most games played with a Winnipeg NHL franchise (either 1.0 or 2.0 versions).

“If you would have told me that when I started my career, don’t know if I would believe you,” said Scheifele. “I’m obviously very blessed to get to that point. Just have to thank God for keeping me healthy and just want to keep it going.”

To mark the occasion, Scheifele scored both of Winnipeg’s goals.

His first came at 9:55 of the first period to give the home team a 1-0 lead. His second came at 9:39 of the third period to cut his team’s deficit to 3-2.

Not only were they his team-leading 33th and 34th of the year, but Scheifele is now up to 88 points. That’s one more than the career high of 87 he posted last year.

BARRON BLINDSIDED

There was a scary moment in the third period.

Jets forward Morgan Barron was crushed by a high, hard hit from Avalanche defenceman Josh Manson. Barron took exception to the play — which was deemed worthy of a two-minute interference penalty — and dropped the gloves with Manson, who is one tough customer.

Barron definitely got the worst of the exchange, taking a couple hard blows to the face and coming up wobbly. He needed some help getting off the ice and making his way down the tunnel, where he went straight into concussion protocol.

He did not return to the game.

This incident is sure to spark debate on whether the Jets could use some additional muscle on the team, especially after trading both Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn at the deadline.

The fact Barron had to step up and fight for himself is not ideal, but considering his two linemates are rookies Isak Rosen and Brad Lambert, they weren’t exactly going to drop the gloves with Manson.

Where’s Scheifele when you need him? We kid, but it was just one game ago that Vegas took liberties with Kyle Connor, and Scheifele stepped in to fight Brett Howden.

Again, that’s less than ideal — even though it was still the talk of the room two days later.

“Team unity. Team toughness. You don’t have to be the biggest guy, and it doesn’t always need to be the same guy stepping in,” defenceman Josh Morrissey said of what seeing Scheifele scrap meant to the team.

“Our leading scorer goes in there and protects our second leading scorer on the play. It just shows the level of buy-in from the group and how tight our team is. I think it just shows within our room more than anything that everyone’s here pulling in the same direction and we have that total buy-in.”

The Jets don’t have any extra healthy forwards on a roster, so a recall from the Manitoba Moose may be required if Barron is going to miss any time.

Veteran forwards Nino Niederreiter and Vlad Namestnikov are skating in non-contact sweaters as they make their way back from injuries, but there is still no timetable on their potential returns.

CHALLENGING SITUATION

The Jets ended the second period by taking two quick penalties — Jonathan Toews for hooking against MacKinnon, and then defenceman Elias Salomonsson for flipping the puck into the crowd during an attempted clear while shorthanded.

That meant starting the third period of a 1-1 game down two men.

The Avalanche needed 13 seconds to grab the lead as MacKinnon scored right after Toews’ penalty had expired.

Then came the dagger at 3:55 of the period. MacKinnon perfectly tipped a feed from Artturi Lehkonen past Hellebuyck to make it 3-1 — a goal the Jets opted to challenge for goaltender interference.

There was some contact between MacKinnon’s stick and Hellebuyck’s glove, but it happened outside the blue paint. Officials upheld the goal following video review, and the Jets were once again shorthanded.

“It was a real cross up,” said Jets coach Scott Arniel.

“The referees told us that he tipped the puck before his stick went into Helly’s glove. The league said it was incidental contact in the white ice and there’s actually video where MacKinnon’s stick goes into Helly’s glove, before the puck hits his stick. Three different opinions going on right now.”

KEY PLAY: MacKinnon’s second of the game put the Jets in a two-goal hole.

“He’s absolutely fantastic. He’s a horse out there that works on his game so tirelessly,” said Scheifele. “He’s one of, if not the best, players in the league.”

THREE STARS

1. COL C Nathan MacKinnon: 2 goals

2. WPG C Mark Scheifele: 2 goals

3. COL C Jack Drury: 1 goal

EXTRA, EXTRA

The Jets went 0-for-4 on the power play, which has really struggled of late and cost them some winnable games. Winnipeg killed off three of four penalties they took.

Shot attempts were 70-47 in favour of the Avalanche. Hellebuyck stopped 32 of 35 shots, while Mackenzie Blackwood turned aside 22 of 24 pucks.

“They make a lot of plays. They’ve got some pretty dynamic players on the other side,” Scheifele said. “We had our chances, especially early, to get a few more and Blackwood made some big saves.”

Defencemen Ville Heinola and Jacob Bryson were Winnipeg’s two healthy scratches.

A crowd of 14,357 took in the game. That’s slightly above the season average of 14,166. Winnipeg has three home dates remaining.

The Jets now hit the road for four straight games, starting Saturday evening in Denver for a rematch against the Avalanche.

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