The best comeback team in the NHL during the regular season did it again in its first home game of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Colorado Avalanche quickly erased a one-goal deficit early in the third period and got plenty of help from a suddenly undisciplined Winnipeg Jets club en route to a 6-2 victory Friday night at Ball Arena in Game 3 of this opening-round series. Colorado now leads the best-of-seven series 2-1. Game 4 is here Sunday afternoon.
“We’re not going to get rattled up two, down two, or we try not to,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We just want to stick to our process. That’s what we’ve been preaching all year. We’ve been really good at it.
“We finished first scoring in the entire league, so we should feel like if we’re doing it right and we stick with it, then we’ll get some opportunities.”
Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin scored power-play goals in the opening five minutes of the third to flip control of this contest. The Jets took four penalties in the first 11 minutes of the third, including a double-minor for high sticking.
Casey Mittelstadt had three assists, including the set ups for the fourth and fifth goals as the Avs busted open a tight game and ran away from the reeling Jets. The Avalanche has now scored 17 goals in this series, including 15 on Connor Hellebuyck, who is expected to be awarded the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie of the regular season in June.
“I think the easiest story is we got into penalty trouble,” Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey said. “Whether you look at any way you want — accidental plays, unlucky plays — but we obviously let their pretty potent power play have some opportunities and they capitalized.”
MacKinnon scored the first extra-man goal 2:11 into the third. Miles Wood drew a penalty in the defensive zone, and then MacKinnon’s shot from the top of the zone beat Hellebuyck with Nichushkin providing the screen in front.
Nichushkin put the Avs in front during the power play for the double-minor infraction, which caused Devon Toews to leave a pool of blood on the ice after being high-sticked. Toews later returned to the game and helped set up the fourth goal before scoring into an empty net.
Artturi Lehkonen scored for the third straight game in this series after a beautiful pass from Mittelstadt during a 2-on-2 rush where both Jets defenders fell down. Ross Colton made it a 5-2 game when he directed a Mittelstadt pass past Hellebuyck from the slot.
The four goals came in a span of 10:25 and came after the Jets had briefly found some footing during the second period. Alexandar Georgiev, who heard the home crowd chant his name in support repeatedly throughout the night, made 22 saves and outplayed the all-world guy at the other end of the ice for a second straight game. His biggest save of the game came when the Jets led 2-1 and Tyler Toffoli had a breakaway.
“It’s unbelievable,” Georgiev said of the crowd. “I feel the guys did such a good job for me today, just made my job so much easier, especially in the second and third. I feel they deserve more chants, for sure. I appreciate it a lot. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Zach Parise put the Avs on the board first with his second goal in as many games. Mittelstadt made a nice play on a give-and-go with Parise to get Colorado into the offensive zone, then sent a pass to Josh Manson. Parise put home the rebound of Manson’s shot 11:18 into the opening period.
“I think everyone in the room looks up to Zach — me especially, being a Minnesota kid,” Mittelstadt said. “It’s an honor to play with him and he did a heck of a job. I mean, he’s flying around out there hitting guys, making plays. He made my job easy tonight.”
The Avs controlled the play for much of the first period and applied plenty of pressure in the opening minutes of the second, but the Jets evened the score on a counter attack at 5:03. The play started with a 2-on-1 for Winnipeg that didn’t turn into a shot attempt, but the Jets did keep the puck in the Colorado zone and eventually Toffoli was able to backhand a shot from a tight angle past Georgiev for his first goal of the series.
Mittelstadt took the Avs’ lone penalty of the game and the Jets took advantage to claim the lead the 10:50 of the second. Morrissey scored with a shot from the top of the offensive zone through traffic for the second time in this series.
Footnotes: Samuel Girard returned to the lineup after missing the final two games of the regular season and the first two contests in this series with a concussion. Justus Annunen returned to the active roster as Georgiev’s backup in net. He missed the two games in Winnipeg with an illness. The Avs have now dressed four goalies (Georgiev, Annunen, Ivan Prosvetov and Arvid Holm) in this series.
Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon appeared to suffer a significant laceration to his hand during a scrum after the game ended. Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness did not have an update on Dillon’s condition.
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