Avalanche Soar Past Jets 5-1 to Claim Fourth-Straight Win

Flying high.
The Colorado Avalanche flew past Winnipeg Jets 5-1 on Friday night. Colorado extended its win streak to four games and its point streak to six games (5-0-1) and is now 32-19-5 on the season.

For the Avalanche,Nathan MacKinnon (1G, 1A),Mikko Ratanen (1G, 1A), J.T. Compher (1G, 1A), Bowen Byram, Matt Nieto scored. In net, Alexandar Georgiev turned aside 26 of the 27 shots he faced. The Avalanche utilized a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
For the Jets, Mason Appleton scored on the power play. Between the pipes, Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves on 26 shots through two periods, while David Rittich played the final period and made 10 saves on as many shots.

GAME SUMMARY:

First Period:
0:19 - COL 1, WPG 0 -A quick one-touch passing sequence up ice from Artturi Lehkonen to Valeri Nichushkin found MacKinnon in the neutral zone where he was sprung for a breakaway and fired a slap shot past Hellebuyck just 19 seconds into the game to give Colorado a 1-0 lead.

3:12 - COL 1, WPG 1, PPG - The Jets were awarded a power play at 1:45 and capitalized as they cycled the puck from low-to-high and Appleton fired a blistering shot from the point past Georgiev to tie the game 1-1. Nate Schmidt and Blake Wheeler collected the assists.
4:32 - COL 2, WPG 1 -The tied game was short lived as Rantanen recorded his team-leading 37th goal of the season. Rantanen collected a pass by Evan Rodrigues from the boards. As he and Compher combined for a two-on-one Rantanen opted for the shot and beat Hellebuyck over his blocker.

7:34 - COL 3, WPG 1 - On a zone cycle, Compher tipped in a shot from Rantanen past Hellebuyck to pad the Avalanche's lead 3-1. MacKinnon also notched an assist.

10:58 - COL 4, WPG 1 - Byram collected a pass from Andrew Cogliano above the faceoff circles. The defenseman skated into the slot and ripped a wrist shot past Hellebuyck to cushion Colorado's lead 4-1 midway through the first period.

Second Period:
10:59 - COL 5, WPG 1 - On a quick zone entry - spearheaded by Nieto - and slick passing between himself an Devon Toews and Compher, the puck was threaded - by Compher - into the low slot where Nieto tapped it past Hellebuyck to give the Avalanche a 5-1 score.

Third Period:
No goals.

NOTEWORTHY:

• MacKinnon buried his 21st goal of the season and extended his point streak to six games where he totaled 14 points (7G, 7A) in that span.
• Compher (1G, 3A) scored his 12th goal of the season and second goal in as many games. The centerman also extended his point streak to three games where he's produced seven points (2G, 5A) in that stretch.
• Rantanen established a new career-best as he buried his team-leading 37th goal of the season. The Finnish winger is also now riding a three-game goal streak with five points (3G, 2A) in that span.
• Byram buried his fifth goal of the season and third goal in as many games.
• Nieto scored his 11th goal of the season.
• Lehkonen dished out a helper and recorded his 100th-career assist.
• Georgiev made his 40th start of the season, while his record improved to 24-12-4.
• Colorado finished the game 0-for-3 on the power play and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.
• Cale Makar (upper body), Pavel Francouz (lower body) and Darren Helm (lower body) were scratches for the Avalanche.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche complete the second leg of their back-to-back on Saturday night at Ball Arena as they host Calgary. The puck drops between the Avs and Flames at 7:00 p.m. MT.