Avalanche blown out in Winnipeg

As is becoming a norm for them, the Colorado Avalanche took to the road in body only against one of the Central Division leaders but came away with an embarrassing loss, this time to the Winnipeg Jets. The 6-1 score prevented the Avalanche from keeping pace in the chase for the playoffs.

Colorado’s inability to even be competitive against the top teams in their own division (Winnipeg, St. Louis, Nashville) continues to be a problem as the team shows it’s not quite ready for primetime just yet.

This one got out of hand in the second period, when Colorado was already trailing 1-0 after a first period goal from Blake Wheeler from behind the net that snuck in off the back of goaltender Jonathan Bernier’s left skate.

Despite the Avalanche playing pretty well in the first half of the second period, the Jets ultimately made the most of their chances, beginning with Kyle Connor taking a pass from Dustin Byfuglien and fired a shot that deflected off Mikko Rantanen’s stick and beat Bernier high on the glove side to give the Jets a 2-0 lead.

It was only just the beginning for the Jets.

Colorado’s struggles on the power play, especially on the road where they are the league’s worst team, made it worse when Rantanen lost control of the puck and Andrew Copp and Mark Scheifele took off down the ice with a two-on-one advantage and Scheifele’s perfect backhand pass to Copp was not wasted when he fired a one-timer past Bernier making it 3-0. It was Colorado’s league-leading 11th shorthanded goal against this season.

The salt was only partially in the wound and the Jets would essentially finish off the Avs by scoring a power play goal with just 28 seconds remaining in the period when Patrik Laine did what he does with a one-timer from the point that blew past Bernier, who would eventually be pulled for Semyon Varlamov at the start of the third period.

A Tyler Myers goal just over five minutes into the third period brought the game to the score of 5-0. Blake Wheeler scored his second of the night halfway through the final frame to make it a cool 6-0.

The Avalanche got on the scoreboard for the first time in two games in Winnipeg when Rantanen wrapped a puck around the net and spoiled Connor Hellebuyck’s shutout bid with his 18th goal of the season at the 14:04 mark.