After two Horrible losses jets beat avs 3-1
Kyle Connor called it a “full team effort.”
No doubt about that. It also proved that the 2025-26 Winnipeg Jets are the strangest, most confounding team in the NHL.
Two nights after the Jets were horrible in a 6-3 loss to the lowly New York Rangers and four nights after they were even worse in a 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, the Jets beat the best team in the National Hockey League, the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 in an afternoon affair at Canada Life Centre.
With a near-sellout crowd on Hoser Night (OK, afternoon), the Jets got a goal and an assist from Connor, two assists from Mark Scheifele and a great goaltending effort from Connor Hellebuyck to improve to 27-28-10 on the season.
Better yet, the Jets shook off those two disappointing outings during the week and beat an Avalanche team (now 44-12-9) that controlled the rink, won 58 percent of the faceoffs, outshot Winnipeg 29-18 and looked like a team that should be favoured to win the Stanley Cup.
Nobody saw this one coming.
Especially after Hellebuyck had been so bad against the Rangers on Thursday. On this particular Saturday afternoon, he was brilliant.
The Jets survived the first period, despite being outshot 8-5 (7-2 with five minutes left in the period).
The Jets did have a power play. However, they had no shots and barely got the puck into the Colorado zone. The Avalanche finished the period with a man advantage and appeared ready to unleash their high-powered offence.
However, after the Jets fought off the Avs’ power play, Colorado’s Nathan McKinnon made a (dumb) blind pass at the Jets blueline. Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele picked it up, skated into the Avs zone, found Kyle Connor streaking in late, fed the Jets’ sniper a perfect pass and Connor rifled home his 30th goal of the year at 2:05. Scheifele picked up his 50th assist of the season as the Jets scored on their sixth shot on goal.
Winnipeg made it 2-0 at 11:52 when Alex Iafallo jumped on a rebound off a Scheifele shot and banged the puck behind Colorado goalie Mackenzie Blackwood. Scheifele and Connor drew the assists as Winnipeg found themselves with a two-goal lead after only taking 10 shots on goal.
That lead held up through 40 minutes despite the fact the Avalanche had a glorious scoring chance in the dying seconds of Period 2. Colorado outshot Winnipeg 8-7 in the second (16-12 overall) and yet found themselves two goals down.
In the third. Colorado came out flying and when Jacob Bryson took a high-sticking penalty at the 15-secodn mark, it appeared as if the Avs would finally get on the board. But even though they took the first four shots of the period and had complete control of the Jets zone, they couldn’t beat Hellebuyck.
In fact, Colorado pulled Blackwood with 3:35 remaining and held the Jets zone for almost two minutes, but Hellebuyck and the Jets defence barred the door.
Finally ,with 1:16 left to play, the Jets could no longer fight off the onslaught as Martin Necas fired a shot into an almost empty net as Hellebuyck was laying helpless on the ice. That made it 2-1, it was Necas’s 31st of the year and the Avalanche net remained empty.
However, with 42 seconds remaining, Cole Perfetti stole the puck in his own end and fired a shot from his own blueline into the middle of the Avalanche goal. It was unassisted and Perfetti’s ninth of the season.
Interestingly, Perfetti hit the post of a still-empty Avalanche net just 40 seconds later. So close and yet so far.
The three stars were 1. Connor, 2. Scheifele, and 3. Hellebuyck
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