Avalanche Control Their Own Fate After 4-2 Win Over Jets

The Colorado Avalanche secured a 4-2 victor over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night in the final regular season home game at Ball Arena.

For the Avalanche, Denis Malgin, Evan Rodrigues (1G, 1A), while Mikko Rantanen added a power-play strike. Artturi Lehkonen returned to the lineup for the first time since March 13 after being sidelined due to an upper-body injury and buried an empty-net goal. Alexandar Georgiev turned aside 18 of the 20 shots he faced.
The Avalanche are now 50-25-7 for their season record and have 107 points and are still atop of the Central Division standings. Dallas ranks in second place with 108 points and the Avalanche still hold the advantage as they have more wins and a game in hand.
For the Oilers, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Kevin Stenlund (shorthanded) scored. In between the pipes, David Rittich made 21 saves on 25 shots.

GAME SUMMARY:

First Period:
13:33 - COL 1, WPG 0 - Coloradonetted the game's icebreaker on a quick zone entry. Alex Newhook sent a pass into the high slot for Lars Eller. The Danish forward turned and fired a shot. Rittich made the stop with his glove, but the rebound trickled to the doorstep and Malgin tapped the puck in to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead.

Second Period:
2:15 - COL 1, WPG 1 - The Jets quickly tied the score up 1-1 early in the second period. After entering the offensive zone and cycling the puck from d-to-d. Brendan Dillon sent a horizontal pass at the blueline to Neal Pionk, who fired a shot on net from the point. At the netfront, Jonsson-Fjallby skated onto the shot, corralled it and tapped it past Georgiev's pads at the near post for the 1-1 equalizer.
14:59 - WPG 2, COL 1, SHG -Winnipeg doubled its lead as the Avalanche received their second power play of the night at 14:44 (Vladislav Namestnikov for tripping). Morgan Barron and Stenlund intercepted a pass and countered the other way. At the net front, Stenlund put the puck past Georgiev to give the Jets a 2-1 lead.
16:11 - COL 2, WPG 2, PPG - After relinquishing the shorthanded against, Colorado quickly converted on their remaining power play. The Avalanche shifted the puck around the zone as Evan Rodrigues sent a horizontal cross-ice feed to Rantanen at the opposing top of the right faceoff circle. The Finnish winger unleashed his signature one-timer to beat Rittich.

Third Period:
3:01 - COL 3, WPG 2 -After resetting and maintaining possession, Lehkonen fed Rodrigues in the neutral zone. The winger jetted up ice from the neutral zone, carried it into the offensive zone and snapped a shot on the fly past Rittich's blocker to give Colorado a 3-2 lead.

11:08 - COL 3, WPG 2 -Lars Eller was awarded a penalty shot after being tripped up on a breakaway, but his forehand-backhand-forehand attempt was denied by Rittich.
18:31 COL 4, WPG 2, ENG - From his own zone, Lehkonen fired a nearly 200-foot shot into Winnipeg's empty net to give Colorado a 4-2 lead.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Malgin put away his 13th goal of the season.
• Rantanen recorded his team-leading 55th goal of the season which ranks third in the NHL behind Edmonton's Connor McDavid (64) and Boston's David Pastrnak (60). The goal also established a new Avalanche record for most goals in a single season. The power-play strike was Rantanen's 13th of the season.
• Rodrigues scored his 16th goal of the season.
• Lehkonen returned to the lineup for the first time since March 13 after he was sidelined with a broken finger and underwent subsequent surgery. The Finnish winger skated alongside J.T. Compher and Evan Rodrigues. Lehkonen scored his 21st goal of the season.
• Andrew Cogliano suffered an upper-body injury in the first period and did not return.
• Georgiev made his 61st start of the season for the Avalanche, while his improved to 39-16-6.
• Colorado finished the game 1-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
• The Avalanche relinquished their fifth shorthanded goal against this season, but netted their 64th power-play goal.
• Ben Meyers, Kurtis MacDermid, Darren Helm (lower-body injury) Cale Makar (lower-body injury) and Josh Manson (lower body) were scratches for the Avalanche.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche play their final game of the regular season on Friday night in Nashville. The puck drops between the Avs and Predators at 6:00 p.m. MT.