Jets 3, Avalanche 2
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Drew Stafford and Adam Lowry scored third-period goals to lift the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.
Lowry finished a 2-on-1 with rookie winger Scott Kosmachuk, scoring his fifth of the season at 9:01 to give the Jets their first lead of the game. Just 95 seconds earlier, Stafford stuffed in a rebound for his 18th goal of the year to knot the contest 2-2.
It was Winnipeg's first third-period comeback victory of the 2015-16 NHL season. Coming into the game, the club was 0-24-3 when trailing after 40 minutes.
Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy pulled goalie Semyon Varlamov with 2:19 left in the third period and the Jets killing a penalty. But the hosts held on for their first victory in five games and just their fourth in the last 15 tries.
Colorado center Matt Duchene fed a perfect pass to Erik Johnson and the blueliner notched his 10th of the season to snap a scoreless tie early in the second period. Duchene made it 2-0 less than two minutes later with a bit of a garbage goal and the Jets a man short for his career-high 29th tally.
Winnipeg center Mark Scheifele cut the visitors' lead in half before the middle frame was over, scoring his 22nd goal of the season with the Jets on the power play. Scheifele has been sensational, scoring 10 goals in his last 12 games since Winnipeg's top center, Bryan Little, suffered a season-ending injury. He also drew an assist on Stafford's goal.
The Avalanche (35-31-4) hold down the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, tied with the Minnesota Wild.
Winnipeg (28-35-5) still occupies the second-last spot in the 30-team league.
Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec was tremendous, making 35 stops, while Varlamov registered 27 saves.
The Avalanche headed home after the game but then resume a four-game Canadian road swing with stops in Vancouver on Wednesday, Calgary on Friday and Edmonton next Sunday.
The Jets go west to battle the Canucks on Monday night and the Flames on Wednesday before returning home to face their former captain, Andrew Ladd, and the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.
NOTES: Colorado was without its captain, LW Gabriel Landeskog, who began serving a three-game suspension for his cross-check on Anaheim Ducks D Simon Despres on Wednesday. Avalanche D Chris Bigras is still out with a concussion. ... Jets D Dustin Byfuglien was in the lineup Saturday, despite suffering an upper-body injury in Thursday's loss to the Detroit Red Wings. Sidelined with injuries for Winnipeg were RW Anthony Peluso (upper body), C Bryan Little (upper body), LW Nikolaj Ehlers (upper body) and RW Joel Armia (lower body), while D Julian Melchiori was a healthy scratch. ... Winnipeg's most successful goaltender this season is playing in the American Hockey League. Connor Hellebuyck was 13-11-1 in a long stint with the Jets earlier this season, while the club's current netminders, Ondrej Pavelec and Michael Hutchinson, came into the weekend with just seven victories apiece. ... Avalanche RW Jarome Iginla recorded one point to tie legendary Rangers forward Jean Ratelle (1,267) for 36th place on the NHL's all-time scoring list.