Kyle Connor had two goals and an assist for the Winnipeg Jets in their 7-6 win against visiting the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series on Sunday evening.
Adam Lowry also scored two goals, Mark Scheifele had a goal and two assists, Josh Morrissey had a goal and an assist and Connor Hellebuyck made 39 saves for the Jets, who ended the regular season with an eight-game winning streak.
Cale Makar had a goal and two assists, Nathan MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen each had a goal and an assist and Alexandar Georgiev made 16 saves for the Avalanche, who were swept by Winnipeg in the three-game regular-season series, getting outscored 17-4.
Winnipeg took the lead for good at 8:57 of the second when Lowry finished a two-on-one rush to give the Jets a 4-3 lead.
Lowry scored again at 3:31 of the third period to make it 5-3. His shot from in close hit both posts before slightly crossing the goal line.
Connor followed with a power-play goal to stretch the lead to 6-3 at 5:51.
The Avalanche answered with a power-play goal by Lehkonen on a deflection to cut it to 6-4 at 6:29, but Connor scored again at 8:54 to make it 7-4.
Makar scored with a wrist shot through traffic while on a power play to cut it to 7-5 at 12:24.
Casey Mittelstadt scored from in close with 30 seconds left to make it 7-6.
Both teams scored three goals apiece in a span of 9:43 of the first period.
Valeri Nichushkin scored with a wrist shot from the right circle to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 6:10.
Morrissey took a wrist shot from just inside the blue line that sailed through traffic and hit the net to tie it 1-1 at 8:02.
Winnipeg moved ahead 2-1 at 11:57 when Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson turned the puck over in his zone and Vladislav Namestnikov scored with a one-timer.
Winnipeg defenseman Dylan Samberg then turned the puck over behind his net and Miles Wood took advantage to tie it 2-2 at 14:47.
Colorado scored 18 seconds later when MacKinnon capitalized off another turnover and scored with a wrist shot from the left circle to move the Avalanche ahead 3-2 at 15:05.
The Jets tied it 3-3 at 15:53 when Scheifele scored off a short centering pass from Gabriel Vilardi.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Winnipeg.
–Field Level Media
