The Jets are now tied with the Nashville Predators for the Central Division lead with 77 points this campaign, and Colorado is two points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
"They are where they are in the standings because they are a really good team. They are a well-rounded, deep team and they are even better at home," said Bednar of Winnipeg. "[In the] season series, we won both in our building, they won both here. We played them well at home, did a good job, collected points and we just didn't play them well enough on the road and vice versa for them. It's a series split against a real good team. I would have liked to have a better showing today, but sometimes that's the way it works."
The Avs started slow but came on strong in the second, outshooting Winnipeg 15-9 in the middle stanza but the Jets took a 4-0 lead into the second intermission.
"The first period wasn't good enough and the start of the second we were better, but too many mistakes," forward Mikko Rantanen said. "I had one on the power play, and it can't happen. If you want to win these games, you can't [make] those mistakes. I think that mistakes and the bad play in D-zone and O-zone led to their win."
Rantanen started the contest on a line with rookies J.T. Compher and Tyson Jost but Bednar rearranged his combinations throughout the game and later inserted him onto a trio with Gabriel Landeskog and Alexander Kerfoot.
The Nousianien, Finland, native scored the Avs' goal late in the third period with an unassisted, wraparound effort.
"We weren't getting any traffic to the net in the first. I wanted to try and change them up a little bit," said Bednar. "I wanted to get Mikko back with Landy, something that is familiar. See if they could get something going and just move [Colin Wilson] down. And then we had some penalty trouble, lost A.J. Greer for a bit, so I was just filling guys in there."
Greer went to the penalty box for five minutes after being assessed a major penalty for fighting Winnipeg defenseman Dustin Byfuglien. The altercation resulted in Byfuglien receiving three penalties, and he sat out for 17 minutes of the third frame.
"I mean Wheeler is cross checking Greer, and Greer turns around and gives it back to him," said Bednar. "Byfuglien comes in and wants a fight, and Greer answers them both. I thought he did a great job, and Byfuglien doesn't stop so he gets the extra penalty."
The Avs will have to put this game behind them quickly as they returns home for one game against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday before heading back on the road.
"We are going to play the rest of the season almost every other day, so with the bad games you have to just get past it," said Rantanen. "Learning tomorrow from some video on what we can do better against Edmonton Sunday. It's going to be a huge game."
