MacKinnon has 6th straight multipoint game, Avalanche cruise past Jets

WINNIPEG -- Nathan MacKinnon extended his multipoint game streak to six, and the Colorado Avalanche scored four times in the first period for a 5-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Friday.

"Some of our top finishers in MacKinnon and
[Mikko] Rantanen
, they kind of lead the way out of the gate and it carried over for the rest of our hockey game," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "I think we had a good start, no question. We were skating, we were winning some puck touches in the [defensive] zone that got us off to the races and odd-man rushes. I just thought we had some good jump."
MacKinnon, Rantanen, and J.T. Compher each had a goal and an assist, and Alexandar Georgiev made 26 saves for the Avalanche (32-19-5), who are 5-0-1 in their past six games.
"What a great first period for us," Georgiev said. "We came out strong and capitalized on the chances right away and kind of had control of the game ever since then."

Mason Appleton scored for the Jets (35-23-1), who have lost four of five. Connor Hellebuyck allowed five goals on 26 shots through two periods. David Rittich made 10 saves in relief.
"Well, we were asleep to start the game, no question," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. "So, you talk to the players and get their opinion. We were clearly asleep. … We just got embarrassed. Again, let's see how we respond."
MacKinnon scored on a breakaway 19 seconds into the first period to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead.
Appleton tied it 1-1 at 3:12, tipping Nate Schmidt's point shot for his first power-play goal in 227 NHL games.
"They scored 19 seconds into the game. It's unacceptable," Appleton said. "We rebounded, scored a goal, tied it up, and then from there we were chasing the game once they scored their second goal. You want to give credit to them, they're a really good hockey team, but we didn't help ourselves tonight. We're a really good hockey team when we want to be. We were not that tonight.
Rantanen made it 2-1 at 4:32, scoring from the left face-off circle on a 2-on-1 rush for his NHL career-high 37th goal.
"[We had] some really good discipline, structurally sound, made them earn all their chances," Bednar said. "I thought we did a nice job on the defending side of it, moved the puck pretty efficiently tonight, so it turned out to be a pretty good performance for our group."

Compher pushed it to 3-1 at 7:34 when Rantanen's shot from the point deflected off him, and Bowen Byram extended it to 4-1 at 10:58 from the top of the slot.
"[The Avalanche] showed us what the benchmark is," Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon said. "They're a team that's won and knows the importance of these games and how to rise to the occasion. We've got to take the lesson from that."
Matt Nieto scored from the right point at 10:59 of the second period for the 5-1 final.
"Probably a good burst of energy for us to start off strong," Georgiev said. "For me, still a lot of hockey left, so you try to forget and keep going like that. It was a good thing that we came out strong like that."
NOTES: MacKinnon's streak ties his NHL career high set in 2018-19 and joins Joe Sakic (three times) as the only players in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history with multiple multipoint streaks of six games or more. … MacKinnon has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in the streak and has 20 goals for the eighth time in the NHL. … It was the fastest game-opening goal by the Avalanche since Oct. 13, 2018, when MacKinnon scored 11 seconds into a 3-2 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames. … Compher has eight points (two goals, six assists) in a three-game point streak. … Rantanen is the first Avalanche player to score 30 even-strength goals since Milan Hejduk in 2002-03. … Blake Wheeler got his 800th point in his 875th game with the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers (261 goals, 539 assists). He has 910 points (311 goals, 599 assists) in 1,096 NHL games in 15 seasons with the Jets, Thrashers and Boston Bruins. … Jets forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby had one hit in 9:35 in his first game since Jan. 26 after being recalled from Manitoba of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.