DENVER — Winnipeg head coach Rick Bowness referred to the term "self-inflicted" on six occasions Sunday after the Jets dropped a 5-1 decision to Colorado that left his team in must-win mode.
"You want to take penalties? You want to play a three-quarter ice game? You're playing right into their hands," a frustrated Bowness said in his post-game media availability.
The Jets have not had answers for the high-powered Avalanche offence, led by Valeri Nichushkin's hat trick in a playoff matinee at Ball Arena.
After outscoring Colorado 7-6 in the opener of the best-of-seven series, Winnipeg's big guns have essentially been silenced.
Now the team heads home looking to avoid elimination in Game 5.
"We've got to bring a different game come Tuesday," said forward Mark Scheifele, who was a minus-2 with one shot on net. "We've got to fix some things. We've got to change some things up."
Bowness confirmed lineup adjustments were coming for a team that has scored just five times over three straight losses. Defenceman Nate Schmidt had Winnipeg's lone goal Sunday.
Nichushkin, who iced the win with an empty-netter, scored twice on the power play in the second period. Nathan MacKinnon assisted on both goals.
"You take penalties and all of a sudden you lose all your momentum," Bowness said. "It’s the penalties that took us out of the game again. It did. We lost our flow."
Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring and Cale Makar, with a brilliant end-to-end rush, also scored for Colorado. Bowness pulled netminder Connor Hellebuyck after 40 minutes and replaced him with Laurent Brossoit.
"Just giving him a break," Bowness said of the decision. "That's not on him whatsoever. That's on the players in front of him."
There was a scary moment midway through the third period when Winnipeg forward Vladislav Namestnikov was hit in the head with a puck. Schmidt's slapshot from the point was deflected and caught his teammate in the side of the face.
Namestnikov was down for about a minute before skating off under his own power, trainers at his side and a towel pressed to his face to stop the bleeding. He was transported to hospital but no other details were available.
"It's scary," Scheifele said. "You never want to see that much blood, no matter what, no matter who it is. Especially a guy on our squad. That sucks. All you can do it hope and pray that he's OK."
With defenceman Brenden Dillon out after cutting his left hand at the end of a 6-2 loss in Game 3 on Friday night, Logan Stanley returned to the Winnipeg lineup. The Jets also added speedy forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby for David Gustafsson.
The Avalanche made a change with AHL call-up Nikolai Kovalenko making his NHL debut. Forward Joel Kiviranta sat out.
Colorado came out flying in front of a vocal sellout crowd, firing nine shots at Hellebuyck over the first seven minutes.
The pressure was rewarded when Casey Mittelstadt won a puck battle over Stanley behind the net and slid it to an open Lehkonen, who fired in a wrist shot at 8:10.
The Jets seemed unsettled at the start and had difficulty moving the puck out of their own zone. Team rhythm improved after Schmidt picked the top corner on Alexandar Georgiev's blocker side to tie the game at 13:56.
Georgiev made a brilliant pad save to stone Namestnikov late in the first period.
Stanley's rough day continued early in the second period. He picked up a needless roughing penalty and was called for interference shortly after the Jets killed off his first minor.
The second call was negated a minute later as MacKinnon was penalized for knocking the stick out of Namestnikov's hands while driving to the net.
Colorado's top line of MacKinnon, Nichushkin and Mikko Rantanen was quiet over the first half of the game. That changed once Nichushkin tipped in a Makar point shot at 11:36.
Makar padded the lead moments later by weaving through the Winnipeg zone and beating Hellebuyck over the right shoulder at 15:03.
On Colorado's third goal of the period, Lehkonen deftly flicked a rebound across the crease for Nichushkin to tap in with 24 seconds left.
The Russian added his empty-netter with 12.4 seconds remaining for his first career hat trick.
"We’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing," said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. "But the last (win) is always the toughest one to get. So we’ll have to be better.”
Colorado outshot Winnipeg 35-27.
DILLON DAY TO DAY
Bowness said he was hopeful that Dillon, who has three assists in the series, would be able to return for Game 5. He had 20 points (8-12) over 77 games in the regular season and three assists in the playoffs.
COMING UP
If Game 6 is necessary, it would be played Thursday in Denver. The series would shift back to Winnipeg on Saturday if it goes the distance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2024.
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Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
