Avalanche 2, Jets 1
WINNIPEG -- The Colorado Avalanche put a little bit of breathing room between themselves and the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference with a workmanlike 2-1 victory Monday night.
With the win, the Avs improved to 23-21-3 and 49 points while the Jets fell to 21-22-3 and 45 points.
The Jets made it interesting -- ever so briefly -- when right winger Joel Armia snapped a shot past Avs goalie Semyon Varlamov to break the shutout with 41 seconds left in the game. It was his second goal of the season.
But it was too little too late as the Avs killed off the final seconds for the victory.
Coming into Monday's game, the Jets were riding their sixth two-game winning streak of the season, and for the sixth time, they failed to extend it to three games.
The Jets had the majority of scoring chances early on, but it was the Avalanche who had several dominant stretches in which it hemmed Winnipeg in its own zone.
The visitors opened the scoring at 1:16 of the second period during one of those stretches when center Carl Soderberg knocked home a rebound past goalie Connor Hellebuyck during a delayed penalty call on Jets defenseman Toby Enstrom. It was Soderberg's ninth goal of the season, with assists going to left winger Blake Comeau and defenseman Nick Holden.
The Avalanche doubled their lead in the dying seconds of the middle period on the power play. Right winger Jarome Iginla potted his 13th of the season on a pretty passing play from Soderberg and left winger Alex Tanguay. It was Iginla's 602nd goal of his career, moving him into sole possession of 18th place on the NHL's all-time list.
The Jets played a spirited third period but every time they appeared to have an open shot, one member of the Avalanche promptly stepped -- or dove -- into the lane. And on the odd occasion where the shot got through, Varlamov was there to stymy the Jets.
The Jets outshot the Avalanche 37-34.
NOTES: The Jets are experiencing their first real bout of the injury bug with C Adam Lowry (upper body) and RW Drew Stafford (upper body) joining C Mark Scheifele (lower body) on the injured list. ... The Jets played their 21st home game this season, the fewest in the league. ... With Avalanche RW Jarome Iginla up to No. 18 on the all-time goals list with 602, his next target is long-time Minnesota North Star Dino Ciccarelli at 608 ... The history of both teams was represented in the MTS Centre, as there were a smattering of Quebec Nordiques and Atlanta Thrashers jerseys in the crowd. ... In the press box for the Jets were D Adam Pardy, D Paul Postma and C Patrice Cormier. Joining them from the Avalanche were D Nate Guenin, C Mikhail Grigorenko and D Andrew Bodnarchuk.