Well, that was not in the script. 
In Denver, on Saturday afternoon, the visiting Winnipeg Jets put up a four spot in the first period,and for good measure, added three more in the middle frame en route to a 7-0 win over the Avalanche.
Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves, for the shutout.
If this was a preview of the first round series between these two teams, the script needs a rewrite and the casting agent is fired.
“We have the best goalie in the League,” the Jets’ Neal Pionk said. “It gives us a ton of confidence, let’s you play freely, make some plays. And like I said, when we play these good teams, they’re going to make some plays no matter what we do. We could play a perfect game and still give up a few scoring chances, and that’s where the goalie helps us out.”
The Jets improved to 50-24-6 off their sixth straight win.
“That’s not their best game,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said of the Avalanche. “We know we’re going to see a lot better than that. I know their goalies had a tough night. We’re happy with what we did knowing it’s not going to look like that when the playoffs start.
“We know they’re a lot better than that. They’re a great hockey team over there. They are. They have elite players, the coaches have got them playing hockey. Today, that’s not their hockey team. We know they’re a great hockey team, and we know it’s going to be a tough series.”
Sean Monahan and Adam Lowry each hit for doubles in the win.
The Jets started early on the offense.
Monahan started the Jets up with a strike at 5:59 of the first.
Gabriel Vilardi added to the lead off the power play at 8:02, scoring from the right circle.
“Our first period, we did a really good job of staying on top of them, forcing turnovers, and our power play got two huge goals for us,” Lowry said. “They have some of the best players in the world, a lot of speed coming through the middle.”
Josh Morrissey added another power play marker at 15:07, scoring off a shot from the blueline for a 3-0 advantage.
Lowry potted his first of the game at 15:17, scoring off an uncontrolled rebound.
“I think we’re too late in the season here to kind of brush things off and say they had it and we didn’t,” Colorado’s Andrew Cogliano said. “I don’t know. It’s disappointing. The bottom line is, you get behind on a team like that, it’s going to be really hard to come back. So that’s just the nature of the beast where we’re at with a team like that. They checked hard, we didn’t.
“They got all their offense from mistakes we made, which were a lot of mental mistakes, a lot of bad reads, a lot of things that we just haven’t done in a long time. And you faced a team that checked hard and we didn’t, and when you give teams, good opportunistic teams like that, 2-on-1s and breakaways, eventually they’re going to go in. So we left our goalies out to dry a lot.”
The Avalanche dropped to 49-25-6.
“We’re going to have to remember it,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “We’re going to have to learn from it, study it, and understand it, because we’re going to have to be a lot better than that. That’s two out of our last three games were like that. It’s a huge game, right, and that’s the way we came out in the first period …
“This is a really good team, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’ve got to be ready to start. Can’t wade into hockey games.”
The second period was a little better, if only that the Jets scored three, not four times.
Tyler Toffoli ballooned the lead to 5-0midway through the second.
Monahan collected his double at 15:11 for a 6-0 lead.
Lowry scored his double at 16:33 for the 7-0 final count on the scoreboard. .
“I was ice cold, so it’s nice to heat up a little bit,” Lowry said. “It was nice to see the first one go in, and the second one was a bonus. Guys joke that I’m addicted to [shooting five-hole]. It was one of those things that I saw and tried to take advantage of.”
Alexandar Georgiev got the start for the Avs, he made 11 saves, yielding four goals, before getting the hook late in the opening stanza.
Justus Annunen made eight saves in a mop up role.
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