Needing a point Thursday night to clinch its second straight playoff appearance for the first time since 2006, the Avalanche inadvertently dug itself a two-goal deficit against the Winnipeg Jets at the Pepsi Center.

No problem. The sellout crowd of 18,003 enjoyed watching the red-hot Avs dig out of that exact hole for the third straight time and reach the playoff promised land.

Defenseman Erik Johnson scored with a wicked wrist shot 1:49 into overtime to give the Avalanche an extraordinary 3-2 victory over the Jets in the regular-season finale at the Pepsi Center. Center Carl Soderberg scored at 10:35 of the third period to tie it and goalie Philipp Grubauer was brilliant down the stretch as Colorado took it to overtime to collect its most important point of the season. The Avs take a 10-game points streak (8-0-2) into Saturday’s semi-meaningless season finale at San Jose.

Johnson’s goal was a bonus which could potentially help the Avs climb from the second Western Conference wild-card spot to the first.

“Found a way to win in overtime and it was so much fun,” said Johnson, who took a pass from Nathan MacKinnon on a 2-on-1 rush before beating goalie Connor Hellebuyck. “The energy, the crowd — man, that was fun. Such a cool experience to do that for our fans here. Two years in a row in the playoffs and the expectations are higher this year. Let’s keep playing. You never know what can happen and we’re peaking at the right time.”

The Avs are currently the Western Conference’s No. 8 seed and tentatively scheduled to open against the No. 1 Calgary Flames beginning Wednesday or Thursday at the Scotiabank Saddledome. But Colorado could climb to No. 7 if Dallas loses its final two games in regulation Friday and Saturday and the Avs win Saturday at San Jose.

“It feels good. I like the fact that we’re in and I feel like our guys deserve it,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “If you look at what we’ve done here to kick in the front door and get in the playoffs — going 8-0-2 in our last 10 after a rough stretch in the middle of the season. We bounced around for a little bit. The committment and work from our group, especially over the last month or so, has been outstanding. I feel like we’ve been playing our best hockey at the right time and we deserve to be in.”

Defenseman Tyson Barrie started the Avs’ comeback with his career-tying-high 14th goal of the season early in the second period. With 1:26 to go in the third period in a 2-2 game, the Avs were assessed a minor penalty for too-many-men. They killed it off to finish 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

“Obviously, you never want to get down but it shows so much character to come back from those holes,” Barrie said. “We knew what was on the line tonight. We showed up. Gruby was awesome. Boys played great. It’s a great feeling now. It was a little scary at the end there (because of the penalty) but you could see how bad the guys wanted it, diving in front of shots.”

The Avs qualified for the playoffs in their first 10 seasons in Denver, from 1995 to 2006. But they haven’t made consecutive appearances since.

The Avs also fell behind 2-0 on Sunday at St. Louis and Monday vs. Edmonton, but went on to lose 3-2 in a shootout against the Blues and defeat the Oilers 6-2.

Winnipeg took a 1-0 lead on a goal the Avs challenged because of goaltender interference 10:12 into the game. Mark Scheifele punched the puck in off Grubauer’s pad while Jets captain Blake Wheeler came in hot through the crease from the opposite. Wheeler definitely made contact with Grubauer but officials didn’t think it was severe enough to change the call on the ice.

The Jets doubled their lead at 17:50 on a nice putback play by forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who stuffed in his rebound from the goalmouth.

Footnote. Avalanche all-star right winger Mikko Rantanen missed his seventh consecutive game with a rib/hip injury. Rantanen, however, skated in a non-contact jersey before Thursday’s morning skate and coach Jared Bednar said he also skated Wednesday during the team’s off day. Rantanen could potentially be ready to return for Game 1 next week.