Collapse in Colorado

DENVER — They lost their lead. They lost their composure. They lost the game. And they may have lost a key player to an ugly injury.

Add it all up and it was a Friday night to forget for the Winnipeg Jets, who now find themselves trailing their first-round playoff series 2-1 following a 6-2 defeat to the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena.

Winnipeg appeared to be in full control through 40 minutes, carrying a hard-fought 2-1 advantage into the second intermission. All they needed was one more solid period to wrestle home-ice advantage back from Colorado after a split of the first two games at Canada Life Centre.

It was easier said than done. A parade to the penalty box and an inability to get a kill proved fatal, with the home team scoring five times in the final frame to absolutely bury them.

“That’s the M.O. of their team. They’re a great team. They’re going to have plays where they’re flying and make stuff happen,” defenceman Josh Morrissey said of trying to survive the Avalanche.

“We can bend, but we can’t break, which I thought we actually did a pretty good job through two periods.”

Unfortunately for Winnipeg, a hockey game is three periods long.

1) A bloody ending

Given how this one finished, it’s not surprising the Jets were rather feisty in the waning seconds, with a major skirmish breaking out at the final buzzer. The post-game shenanigans may have come with a heavy price, too.

With fists and bodies flying around, defenceman Brenden Dillon ended up at the bottom of the pile and appeared to suffer a gruesome cut to his hand, seemingly from a skate. He rushed off the ice, leaving a trail of blood behind, and there was significant concern around the Winnipeg room in the immediate aftermath.

Morrissey was clearly emotional as he spoke with reporters outside the room, his voice cracking.

“Scary, scary situation there. I don’t really have anything to say, but we’re all really concerned for him and just hoping everything’s okay,” said Morrissey.

Coach Rick Bowness had no immediate update other than to say Dillon, a pending unrestricted free agent coming off a career season with the Jets, was undergoing medical treatment.

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2) Seeing red

Dillon’s injury was actually the second time the ice crew had to come out with a shovel and wheelbarrow to scrape blood off the ice.

The first happened early in the third period and proved to be a significant turning point in the game. And, perhaps, the series.

Winnipeg’s 2-1 lead had already vanished just 2:11 into the third period, with Nathan MacKinnon scoring on a power play that came after an offensive zone tripping penalty against Mason Appleton.

“He’s trying to take a shot with the puck and the guy follows through and gets it, and… listen, they made the calls. We’re not even going to get into that,” said Bowness, who clearly wasn’t happy with what the Jets felt were some missed infractions earlier in the contest.

Then, with the building buzzing, Gabe Vilardi’s errant stick caught Avalanche defenceman Devon Toews in the face only 23 seconds later, cutting him badly. Although referees initially missed the incident, a linesman called it after the fact, and the Jets were given a double-minor.

You could feel the inevitable coming. Sure enough, Valeri Nichushkin nearly brought the roof down as he scored 2:05 into the four-minute advantage, putting the Avalanche up 3-2.

Reeling from seeing a lead turn into a deficit in the blink of an eye, the Jets then got caught trying to be too aggressive in the offensive zone, which resulted in an odd-man rush and an Artturi Lehkonen goal to make it 4-2 a few minutes later.

The on-ice sins continued, with David Gustafsson whistled for tripping and then Neal Pionk called for delay-of-game. Ross Colton made it 5-2, scoring two seconds after Pionk’s infraction ended.

Add it all up, and it was four Colorado goals in 10:25 of play, with two coming on the power play and a third that might as well have been.

That is not a recipe for success at any time in a hockey season, let alone the playoffs.

“And I think the easiest story is we got into penalty trouble. You can look at them any way you want — accidental plays, unlucky plays — but we obviously let their pretty potent power play have some opportunities and they capitalized.”–Josh Morrissey

“They’ve got, obviously, a lot of speed and they like to play an aggressive game and I thought through two periods, maybe they had more shots, but we were doing a lot of good things to put ourselves in a position to try and win a game in a tough building on the road in the playoffs,” said Morrissey.

“And I think the easiest story is we got into penalty trouble. You can look at them any way you want — accidental plays, unlucky plays — but we obviously let their pretty potent power play have some opportunities and they capitalized.”

Colorado finished off the scoring later in the period with an empty-netter off the stick of Toews. Down three and with a power play, Bowness pulled Hellebuyck for the extra attacker. It didn’t work.

“If we can win the faceoff and get it down the ice, then be a little more aggressive up ice so they are not getting in,” Bowness said when asked what the much-maligned penalty kill of his club can do better.

“And then on their other entries, be more aggressive. Once they get control of it, then yeah, we’ve gotta protect the seams better and gotta protect that down and in they found a couple of times. Then it’s a matter of tightening up, cutting that ice in half. We can do a better job of that.”

3) Silver linings

There are no moral victories in the playoffs, of course. But the Jets did do some good work in the first 40 minutes which ultimately went for naught.

Zach Parise had opened the scoring at 8:42 of the first period, burying a rebound created by a Josh Manson shot. The veteran, who came out of an expected retirement to sign with the Avalanche during the season, now has two goals in this series.

Winnipeg stormed back in the second with a pair. The trio of Tyler Toffoli, Nikolaj Ehlers and Sean Monahan, who had all been blanked in the first two games, all contributed.

First was Toffoli’s backhander somehow trickling past Alexandar Georgiev at 5:03, with Dylan DeMelo and Ehlers drawing the assists.

Winnipeg earned the first power play of the night later in the period as Casey Mittelstadt was called for hooking against Mark Scheifele. The Jets made them pay, with Morrissey finishing off some nice puck movement and finding a seam to beat Georgiev at 10:50. Scheifele and Monahan had the helpers.

Winnipeg kept coming, and they nearly made it 3-1 a few minutes later as Toffoli got a golden chance on a breakaway. Georgiev redeemed himself a bit for the earlier stinker and made a nice save.

In hindsight, a failure to capitalize on this may have been the turning point, given what transpired over the final 20 minutes.

After taking Game 1 by a 7-6 score, the Jets have now lost consecutive games in which they had 2-1 leads in the second period, only to implode.

“Listen, there’s three series out east that are 3-zip. We’re 2-1,” said Bowness.

“They won a game in our rink. We have to come in here and win a game in their rink. It’s as simple as that. 3-2, 6-2, we lost the game. Our focus now is getting ready for (Game 4) Sunday afternoon.”

4) Extra, extra

Winnipeg made one lineup change, with Nate Schmidt replacing Logan Stanley on the blue line. The healthy scratches were Stanley, Colin Miller, Cole Perfetti and Rasmus Kupari. Morgan Barron remains out with a lower-body injury.

Hellebuyck stopped 34 of 39 shots and has now surrendered 15 goals in the three games. Georgiev stopped 22 of 24 shots.

Winnipeg went 1-for-2 on the power play, while Colorado finished the game 2-for-6.

The Avalanche welcomed back defenceman Sam Girard, who missed the first two games with a concussion. He replaced Caleb Jones in the lineup.

Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is set for Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in Denver. Considering the teams had to wait three days between Games 2 and 3, a one-and-a-half day gap will seem like nothing.

“It’s about getting as much rest and recovery, doing all of those little things to feel our best come Sunday and it’s turning the page,” said Morrissey.

“You can take some real positives from that game, especially in the first two periods. It’s a seven-game series for a reason. Unfortunately, we dropped this one tonight and Game 4 is pivotal. We need to come out with our game and (play) a full 60-minute game on Sunday.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg

Mike McIntyre
Sports reporter

Mike McIntyre grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler. But when that dream fizzled, he put all his brawn into becoming a professional writer.

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