Recap: Avalanche annihilated by roaring Jets

One of those games where the scoreline truly reflected what happened on the ice.

Ugly, ugly stuff from the Colorado Avalanche. The playoff preview no one wanted to see.

They got destroyed on home ice 7-0 by the Winnipeg Jets, and all but lost their chance to have home-ice advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs. It was awful from start to finish, with Winnipeg looking like they were in an entirely different league.

If there’s any sort of hope from this game, it’s hoping Colorado got all the bad stuff out of their system. They also haven’t played in three days, and the team plays better when playing consistently every other day. Here’s to health for the final two games of the season.

First Period

With the energy high coming into the game, only one team really showed it in the first period. It would be from the visiting team, as the Winnipeg Jets dominated the entire frame. It started with Sean Monohan finishing a back-door pass evading Sam Girard, and making it 1-0.

Nathan MacKinnon had to take a hooking penalty with a man streaking down the slot alone. It led to yet another back-door finish, this time by Gabriel Vilardi to double the lead.

It only got worse for the Avs since then. Girard went down the tunnel hurt after taking a friendly-fire collision with Ross Colton. While Valeri Nichushkin found the iron, it led to nothing on offense for Colorado, and they could not press to save their lives.

While Mark Schiefele should’ve made it 3-0 on a breakaway, they didn’t have to wait long for the goal. After Sean Walker took a slashing penalty, it would be Josh Morrissey scoring right off the faceoff.

Before you even knew it, it was 4-0 Jets. Adam Lowry was left alone in front, bringing out the frustration of Devon Toews and Alexandar Georgiev. The latter of the two was pulled for Justus Annunen, who did enough to hold off the onslaught of being outshot 16-5 and a mountain to climb.

Second Period

With Girard out for the rest of the game with an upper body, the shorthanded Avs still had no response to the roaring Jets. Defensive mishaps continued to kill the Avs, along with penalties. While they killed off a Ross Colton roughing penalty, Tyler Toffoli would score on a 2-on-1 shortly after.

Colorado couldn’t muster up any offense on a Vladislav Namestnikov penalty, nor a shot by Toews which hit the crossbar. Instead, it would just continue raining goals for the Jets. Monohan and Lowry both got their second goals of the game to make it six and seven with 20 minutes to go.

Third Period

Both goaltenders kept themselves in tune with respective saves. Annunnen denied Toffoli nicely on the breakaway, while Connor Hellebuyck somehow managed to stop a flurry of chances by the Avs, including a third post hit by the home team.

But, everything was set and determined at this point. It was shades of the 2014 World Cup between Germany and Brazil, which Germany won 7-1 in Brazil. Both teams simply played with less intensity, bringing this demoralizing game for Colorado to a slow, long, painful end.

Takeaways

Not really sure where to even start with this one. It was an absolute disaster for the Avalanche right from the get-go. It looked very similar to the game Sunday night against the Dallas Stars, where it was just defensive issue after defensive issue, with even more back-door passes being scored by the opposing team, killing their chances of better playoff positioning in both games’ ensuing results. The penalty kill was far from ideal, giving up two goals today. No one showed up in the first period, where most of the damage was done, and there was nothing Colorado could do to even attempt a comeback.

It’s a repetitive conversation at this point, but goaltending, man. Georgiev only lasted 15:17 of this game, giving up four goals on 15 shots. The team in front of him didn’t help no doubt, but you need a save every once in a while. It didn’t happen today. On the first leg of a back-to-back, you now have two goaltenders who were used in a brutal beatdown. Annunen was scheduled to play tomorrow in Las Vegas, do they continue with this plan or go back to Georgiev who played far less than his teammate?

The major takeaway from this loss is how crucial it is for both teams. This all but gives the Jets home-ice advantage both by point total and by the tiebreaker of regulation wins, with Winnipeg having three more than the Avs. The Jets officially take the season series in a 3-0 sweep and are looking for four more wins against Colorado. That is because it is officially confirmed the Avs and Jets will face off in the first round with the Stars’ 3-1 win over the Seattle Kraken today to clinch first in the Central Division. With what we saw today, it’s only going to be tougher from here and Colorado needs to be much, much better to avoid another first-round exit.

Upcoming

The Avs are back in action tomorrow for their final road game of the year against the Vegas Golden Knights. Puck drop is at 1:30 p.m. MT on TNT.