In Winnipeg, the Jets took a 3-0 lead over the Colorado Avalanche into the third period, then outscored the Avs, 3-2, in the third for a 6-2 win on Saturday night. 
Gabriel Vilardi hit for a double in the Jets win.
“He’s got great hands, he’s got great patience with the puck, and he sees the ice really well,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “Big, strong guy that’s hard to play against, but it’s his patience with the puck, and his skill level is really, really underrated. … He has that sense of when and when not to make the play, he hangs on to it long enough and lets the play develop. Then takes advantage of it.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves in the win.
Winnipeg improved to 18-9-2.
“The team play has been outstanding,” Bowness said. “It’s been level. We don’t let the highs and lows affect us. We just keep playing the same way. We want this to continue.”
The Avs start to the game left in chasing the match for the entire 60 minutes.
“Bad. A poor start,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “The Jets came out and were the more determined, more competitive, faster team in the first period and you find yourself down two goals. I thought we got more engaged in the game in the second period, but still we were probably trying to make something out of nothing on some of the entries, which they did a great job of standing up on us. We didn’t play behind them enough, just didn’t do enough to create the offense that you need to against the Jets, especially once you’re down a couple goals.”
Winnipeg grabbed a 2-0 lead in the opening stanza beginning with a marker from Vilardi 13:56.
“He’s bumping up his play and I’ve seen it before,” the Jets’ Alex Iafallo said of Vilardi. “You can tell he has more confidence with the puck and he’s making great plays with that line. It’s fun to see.”
Vladislav Namestnikov hit off the power play at 15:38 to push the lead to 2-0.
“I think there was some poor decision-making,” Bednar said. “But I guess when you’re behind the eight ball right out of the gate because of lack of preparation or the way the other team comes out and we don’t match that enthusiasm, that competitiveness, that determination, then you feel like you’ve got to get yourself going, so you’re trying to make something happen. I just think it was dead from the start tonight.”
Iafallo scored in the middle frame at 8:43 to expand the lead to 3-0.
“[Namestnikov] and [Cole Perfetti] made great plays, a great forecheck there,” Iafallo said. “They were able to cough it up right in the middle there, so I thought [we] did a great job of getting on the forecheck and putting great pressure on their [defensemen].”
The Avs dropped to 18-10-2.
Colorado’s Jonathan Drouin scored with two minutes gone in the third to trim the deficit to 3-1.
Vilardi hit for his double at 3:40 for a 4-1 lead, and to take the wind out of the Avs sails.
From there, the Jets pushed the advantage to 5-1 at 8:48 off a marker form Nino Niederreiter.
“Listen, all of the depth on the team, it’s fantastic,” Bowness said. “Because we have that depth, we have a solid team game. Our 5-on-5 game is really good. I was disappointed to see [Colorado] get that second goal, but that’s going to happen sometimes.”
Jack Johnson got one back to make it 5-2 midway through the third.
“Listen, all of the depth on the team, it’s fantastic,” Bowness said. “Because we have that depth, we have a solid team game. Our 5-on-5 game is really good. I was disappointed to see [Colorado] get that second goal, but that’s going to happen sometimes.”
Nikolaj Ehlers potted an empty-net marker at 17:57 for the 6-2 final count.
Ivan Prosvetov made 20 saves in the loss.
“I felt like we won the third, kind of,” Prosvetov said, “but for sure for two periods they’re blocking our offense, not letting us get inside there, picking up rebounds. We’re going to regroup, come back tomorrow because it’s [a] back-to-back, and we’re going to try our best tomorrow (against the San Jose Sharks at home).”
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