DENVER — Back-to-back power-play goals early in the third period turned the game for the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.
By the time the host side was done, they scored three more times, set the physical tone and made a statement with an emphatic 6-2 rout of the Winnipeg Jets to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
"We obviously let their pretty potent power play have some opportunities and they capitalized," said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey.
Winnipeg led 2-1 after 40 minutes but things unravelled quickly as Colorado scored three times within a six-minute span. Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin got the rally started and Artturi Lehkonen gave Colorado a two-goal cushion.
Ross Colton tacked on an insurance goal and Devon Toews iced the win with an empty-netter. Casey Mittelstadt had three assists.
"I think we kind of just took it to them," Colton said. "When we play with that speed, we play with that energy, we're a good team."
Some rough stuff ensued at the final buzzer and Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon suffered a nasty gash to his left hand in one dust-up.
Winnipeg head coach Rick Bowness said Dillon was still being examined and an update on his status was not available.
Morrissey and Tyler Toffoli scored for Winnipeg. Zach Parise opened the scoring for the Avalanche, who got 22 saves from Alexander Georgiev.
Connor Hellebuyck made 34 stops for the Jets, who will try to pull even in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon at Ball Arena.
"There's three series out east that are 3-zip," Bowness said. "We're (down) 2-1. They won a game in our rink. We have to come in here and win a game in their rink. It's as simple as that."
The Jets edged Colorado 7-6 in Game 1 but the Avalanche rebounded with a 5-2 victory to earn a split of the first two games at Canada Life Centre.
The Avalanche had the best home record in the NHL during the regular season at 31-9-1. Two of the nine regulation losses were to the Jets, including a 7-0 shellacking on April 13.
The white pompom-waving sellout crowd in the Mile High City was in strong voice for the Avalanche's first home game of the post-season. The road side applied the early pressure though and was nearly rewarded.
Georgiev stopped Mason Appleton after a goalmouth scramble and denied Gabriel Vilardi on a wraparound attempt a short time later.
The Avalanche started to test Hellebuyck midway through the opening period. The Vezina Trophy favourite stopped Lehkonen on a clean look from the left side and caught a break when MacKinnon zinged one off the crossbar.
Hellebuyck made a pad save on a Josh Manson shot from the slot but the rebound kicked out to Parise, who one-timed it to open the scoring at 11:18.
Winnipeg's second line of Toffoli, Sean Monahan and Nikolaj Ehlers was held without a point in the series until early in the second period.
Toffoli flipped a backhand shot from a tight angle that somehow got behind Georgiev at 5:03. Ehlers had an assist.
With Mittelstadt off for hooking Mark Schiefele, the Jets converted as Morrissey's one-timer from the point beat a screened Georgiev at 10:50.
Toffoli was sent in on a breakaway moments later but was stoned by the Bulgarian backstop. The Avalanche replied with a rush of their own but Hellebuyck stopped MacKinnon.
Colorado tied the game at 2:11 of the third period when MacKinnon one-timed a shot from the point that went through the legs of a screened Hellebuyck.
The Avalanche went right back on the power play when Vilardi was given a double-minor after his stick caught Toews in the face and drew blood. Nichushkin roofed a shot over a sprawled Hellebuyck at 4:39.
Back at even strength, Lehkonen scored at 8:11 and Colton tallied at 12:36.
"They’re a great team," Morrissey said. "They’re going to have plays where they’re flying and make stuff happen. We can bend, but we can’t break."
The Jets pulled Hellebuyck for an extra attacker with about four minutes left. Toews sent a puck the length of the ice into the empty cage at 16:25.
Things started getting chippy in the last few minutes and boiled over at the buzzer. An update on Dillon's status will likely come on Saturday.
"Scary, scary situation there," Morrissey said. "I don't really have anything to say but we're all really concerned for him and just hoping everything's OK."
LINEUP CHANGES
The Jets inserted defenceman Nate Schmidt into the lineup after sitting the first two games as a healthy scratch. Blueliner Samuel Girard returned to the Colorado lineup after missing nearly two weeks due to a concussion.
NORTHERN RETURN
The series will return to Winnipeg for Game 5 on Tuesday. If a sixth game is necessary, it would be played Thursday in Denver.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2024.
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Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
