Avalanche at Jets
After failing to surpass three goals in any of their first six contests, the Colorado Avalanche more than doubled that total in their last game. The Avalanche vie for their second win in a row when they visit the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday. "As an offensive team, you need to see pucks go in to get your confidence," said Matt Duchene, who collected one goal and two assists in Colorado's 7-3 win over Vancouver on Friday to join Jarome Iginla (two tallies, one assists) and defenseman Tyson Barrie (three assists) with three-point performances.
Winnipeg fell for the fifth time in six contests with a 4-2 setback to Tampa Bay on Friday. Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler scored versus the Lightning, and both have fared well against the Avalanche. The former has recorded five goals and seven assists in his last 10 meetings while the latter scored the overtime goals to lift Winnipeg to a 2-1 triumph on Dec. 29 and 5-4 win on March 19.
TV: 3 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), TSN3 (Winnipeg)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (2-4-2): Iginla's second goal was the 562nd of his career, moving him past Mike Modano for 23rd place on the all-time list. The future Hall-of-Famer, who resides two tallies behind Mats Sundin and Joe Nieuwendyk, has collected two goals and five assists in his last five contests overall and has torched Winnipeg in his career by scoring nine goals and setting up 12 others in 15 meetings. Former Jets defenseman Zach Redmond notched an assist in his season debut on Friday.
ABOUT THE JETS (2-5-0): Winnipeg bolted out of the blocks with a 6-2 season-opening victory at Arizona on Oct. 9 before being held to just seven goals in its last six contests. Coach Paul Maurice tried to view his team's troubles with a glass-half-full mentality, noting that "the offensive part of our game in terms of chances for and against has been good." Defenseman Tobias Enstrom leads the club with six assists - with three coming in the last two contests - and has scored one goal and set up six others in 13 career meetings with the Avalanche.
OVERTIME
1. Colorado collected eight of a possible 10 points (3-0-2) in five meetings with its Central Division rival last season.
2. The Avalanche have recorded three power-play goals in the last two games after going 1-for-22 in their previous six contests. The Jets scored with the man advantage on Friday but still are just 1-for-24 on the season.
3. Winnipeg recalled C Patrice Cormier from St. John's of the American Hockey League on Saturday.