DENVER – The Winnipeg Jets were looking for some revenge after losing last week at home to the Colorado Avalanche, things didn’t go their way again as the Avalanche got a 5-3 win beating the Jets for the second time in under a week.
Michael Hutchinson gave up four goals on 24 Colorado shots; he falls to 5-6-1 on the year after starting out 4-0.
The Jets made things tough on themselves giving the Avalanche a 3-0 lead before battling back to make things interesting at the end. The Jets controlled most of the play but just couldn’t finish or had good chances blocked which has become a common theme for them.
“All I’ll say about the game is our team gave what it had to give,” Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said. “It wasn’t an easy start, it’s not an easy game to get rolling. They’re at home, they’re rolling, they were good in the start. I don’t think we were casual about our game, we just couldn’t get it going. [The Jets] skated as hard as they could and they played as hard as they could, and we just couldn’t catch up.”
Winnipeg got goals from Andrew Ladd his sixth, Blake Wheeler his ninth, Jacob Trouba got his second of the season.
“We didn’t have the legs we needed to compete at that level in the first period,” Maurice said. “It’s still not a lopsided period, but we gave up a couple of good chances, and they scored on them. They certainly were in control of the game.”
Colorado got goals from Blake Comeau his third on a breakaway, Gabriel Landeskog his seventh, Carl Soderberg his fourth, Chris Wagner his second , Matt Duchene his 12th into an empty net.
“It feels good,” said Duchene, who had one goal in October. “Any time you’re among some of the names that have played in this organization, it’s nice. I didn’t change much, some little changes I made since the start of the season, and I’m playing with two amazing hockey players in Gabe and Nate [MacKinnon]. So much credit goes to those guys.”
The Jets got a very strong game from Trouba who played almost twenty-eight minutes and had a goal and an assist for a two point night and looked very good with a sweet spin-o-ramma move on his goal. Alex Burmistrov also had a strong game for the Jets as he was dangerous with the puck all game and made a couple gorgeous feeds to Blake wheeler that he couldn’t finish on.
“They come back and make it a one-goal game, and we get a huge goal by [Wagner],” Landeskog said. “That’s what you need from your third and fourth line, to chip in when the game’s on the line and play well and be plus players.”
Adam Lowry and Jarome Iginla dropped the mitts in the second period but it wasn’t much of anything. These teams are developing a good rivalry and have that hate for each other being in the same division and scratching for every point possible.
The Jets will get a chance to regroup a bit as they have had a very busy schedule the last while. They will head home for a quick two game home stand taking on the Leafs and Capitals.
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