It's no longer preseason but the Colorado Avalanche had another date with the Winnipeg Jets in Manitoba. What looked like fun early on settled into a battle in which the Avalanche lost in the final minute as the Jets secured a 3-2 victory on a second Kyle Connor goal on the evening.
It was a quiet start to the game with a scoreless first period with each team trading fruitless power plays. Colorado found some momentum in the second half of the frame, though, as they ended up with a 17-6 shot advantage at the first intermission. We had a Cale Makar moment early on as well. He recorded the hardest shot of the season thus far of 101.9 mph in the period.
Scoring would emerge in the second frame as each team found the back of the net. To start, Jaden Schwartz netted his first in an Avalanche sweater as Fedor Svechkov picked up his first point with the club as well. But Winnipeg answered back just over a minute later with Kyle Connor getting a puck through traffic on Mackenzie Blackwood, which has been one area of weakness thus far this season.
That hot start the Avalanche enjoyed lost steam as by the end of the second period as Winnipeg gained a lead when a puck deflected off Cole Perfetti and into the net. Suddenly the Avalanche were looking at their first deficit of the year heading into the third period down 2-1.
The third period was another tight contest with Winnipeg limiting Colorado's chances. The Jets got a power play and couldn't cash it which gave the Avalanche a little jolt. It was the third line who evened the score, this time Svechkov the beneficiary of a pass from Schwartz and the Russian was found alone at the net front and chipped the puck past Jets netminder Stuart Skinner. It looked like this game was headed to overtime but Kyle Connor had other ideas and buried a rush chance for his second score of the contest with just a minute left on the clock and Winnipeg secured a 3-2 win to keep them unbeaten in regulation.
Zach L'Heureux made his Avalanche debut and his game was as advertised through some hard-nosed and energetic play though he played some modest minutes. With just 8:22 time on ice the 23-year-old forward provided three shots on goal and five hits, setting the stage for more to come.
It was also great to see newcomers Jaden Schwartz and Fedor Svechkov find some chemistry and convert on a couple of goals, which would be the entirety of Colorado's production this evening. The first two lines were jumbled as they weren't clicking, however. Brock Nelson had a tough night defensively but so did Gabe Landeskog and Artturi Lehkonen as they were shuffled around.
This first back-to-back of the season sends the Avalanche to Calgary to finish out their brief two-game road trip. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. MT on Thursday, October 8th.
