Cale Makar had a goal and two assists, and Nathan MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who are the No. 3 seed from the Central. Alexandar Georgiev made 16 saves.
“[Georgiev’s game] probably needed to be better, right?” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I thought we played well, we created some chances. He made some good saves, but we’re [going to] need like a couple more saves than that probably to win, you know? But it is what it is. We’ll regroup. We made some mistakes in front of him that we’ll have to clean up and try to get the job done. It’s a team game.”
Game 2 will be in Winnipeg on Tuesday.
Valeri Nichushkin gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 6:10 of the first period, carrying the puck into the offensive zone and beating Hellebuyck with a wrist shot from just above the right face-off dot.
“You’re not tagging any of those goals on [Hellebuyck],” Bowness said. “Some of them had seeing eyes, some of them were bouncing all over the place, some of them were just dead giveaways on our part. You’re not hanging any of those on him. It could have been worse. Seriously. We don’t give up that many chances. We don’t give up that many shots. And Connor had to play better and he made a lot of big saves at the right time, which he always does. I’m not hanging any of those goals on him.”
Morrissey tied it 1-1 at 8:02. The Jets cycled the puck along the blue line before Morrissey floated a wrist shot through traffic that beat Georgiev glove side.
“That’s what playoffs is. Both teams got to push each other and both teams pushing to the brink and make teams play different ways,” Makar said. “Unfortunately, all the mistakes that we made ended up in the back of our net. That’s just the way she goes sometimes. A couple things to clean up and then turn the page.”
Vladislav Namestnikov put Winnipeg in front 2-1 at 11:57. Josh Manson tried to clear the puck along the end boards, but Alex Iafallo deflected it to Namestnikov for a one-timer in front.
“That’s why you want to play the game, you want to play against the best and showcase at the highest stage,” Connor said. “Every one of us — we have a really deep team — to kind of contribute like that, it’s part of the fun.”
The Avalanche then scored two goals in a span of 18 seconds. Miles Wood tied it 2-2 at 14:47 with a one-timer in the slot before MacKinnon made it 3-2 with a wrist shot from the left circle at 15:05.
“I thought our start was great tonight,” Bednar said. “We haven’t played the Jets well this year. We played a good game early in the season, but that’s our first taste of us playing hard and them playing hard and seeing what’s going to happen. And it’s a seven-game series. I don’t think a whole lot changed for us from start to finish. I thought our guys played as hard as they possibly could and as clean as they possibly could.”
Scheifele tied it 3-3 just 48 seconds later. Gabriel Vilardi took the puck from behind the net and slid it across the crease to Scheifele for a tap in at the right post at 15:53.
“It was a lot of emotions,” Georgiev said. “Couple great chances for them, couple great chances for us. It was kind of a high-event game. Being tied up after the first was a pretty good position for us.”
Lowry made it 4-3 at 8:57 of the second period, keeping the puck on a 2-on-1 rush and shooting between Georgiev’s pads.
“[Lowry] has been a great leader for the team on and off the ice,” Bowness said. “He was a great choice for captain. He loves these challenges. He’s going up against one of the best players in the world, not necessarily the League but the world in Nate [MacKinnon]. So, he loves those challenges and he takes his game to another level. The intensity is always there and it was certainly there tonight and it’s nice to see him get rewarded with a couple of goals, because he worked incredibly hard. When you’re playing against the Mackinnon line, you’re going to have to work very, very hard and you’re going to have to be very, very smart, and Adam did those things for us tonight.”
Christine Lake is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. With an extensive background in sports journalism, he covers everything from major league championships to grassroots sports events. When she’s not on the field or at the stadium, you’ll find Christine coaching youth sports teams.
