Avalanche at Jets
The Winnipeg Jets appeared to be a shoo-in for a postseason berth heading into the All-Star break, but their recent swoon has put a number of teams back in position to catch them. The Colorado Avalanche, among the many pursuers chasing a playoff spot in the Western Conference, pay a visit to the Jets on Sunday. Winnipeg is in the midst of a season-worst six-game losing streak (0-4-2), including back-to-back overtime losses to Vancouver and Chicago.
Following a streak during which it secured points in 12-of-15 games (9-3-3), Colorado has seen its offense go belly-up in consecutive shutout losses to Detroit and Minnesota. Saturday's 1-0 setback to the Wild marked the eighth time the Avalanche have been blanked this season - second only to league-worst Buffalo - and dropped them into 11th place in the tightly bunched West. Colorado ended a three-game skid in the series with a 4-3 home shootout win on Dec. 14.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), TSN3 (Winnipeg)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (22-20-11): Colorado is having issues generating scoring chances away from home, managing nine shots in the first two periods Saturday and mustering eight over the first 40 minutes of a 3-2 shootout win at Dallas on Tuesday. Semyon Varlamov has been victimized by the lack of offensive punch, going 4-4-2 over his last 10 starts despite permitting two goals or fewer on eight occasions. "Last year, everything was going in for us," captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "This year, it's certainly not the same. It's just the way it is."
ABOUT THE JETS (26-18-10): Winnipeg at least has some closure on the soap opera involving Evander Kane, who underwent season-ending shoulder surgery four days after he was scratched following a reported locker-room rift with teammate Dustin Byfuglien. “Hockey makes a lot of things go away," forward Chris Thorburn said following Friday's loss. "This is our safe place. It was nice to get out there and compete the way we did.” The Jets have tightened up defensively over the last two games, giving up three regulation goals after surrendering five in each of the previous four losses.
OVERTIME
1. Jets captain Andrew Ladd has 12 goals and 21 points in 22 games versus Colorado.
2. The Avalanche have failed on 24 straight power-play chances over the last eight games.
3. Winnipeg C Mark Scheifele ended a 10-game goal-scoring drought versus Chicago.