The Colorado Avalanche continue to cruise toward the Stanley Cup playoffs as they roll into Winnipeg to face the reeling Jets on Saturday afternoon.
The Avalanche enter the weekend matinee following a four-point night from Nathan MacKinnon that powered Colorado past the Seattle Kraken 5-1 on Thursday.
During that game, MacKinnon scored his NHL-leading 44th goal of the season, while Nazem Kadri recorded his first goal since rejoining the Avalanche in a deadline trade.
Beyond the individual efforts of his key players, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said he is impressed that his group is far from taking its foot off the gas.
“Every win matters this time of the year,” Bednar said. “We’re trying to hang onto first place (in the league). Teams around us are winning. To get a start like that and have those guys feel good about their game is real important this time of year.”
With a 44-11-9 record, Colorado holds a five-point lead over the Dallas Stars in the NHL and Central Division standings.
“It feels like it,” goaltender Scott Wedgewood said, when asked if it would take all 82 games to capture the top spot. “You want to keep getting points as much as you can.
“… As a team, you want to be playing your best hockey and give yourself the best advantage you can, and that’s winning it. That’s our goal. Keeping going like this and it’ll be ours for the taking.”
In Winnipeg, the mood is much different.
The Jets are attempting to mount a late push for the postseason, but a disappointing 6-3 home loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday made the task even more difficult. It left Winnipeg six points behind the San Jose Sharks for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
The Jets desperately have been trying to find consistency, as it often seems that once the team addresses one issue, another emerges.
On Thursday, the problem was defensive-zone coverage, which allowed the Rangers to move the puck freely in the Winnipeg zone.
“We gave up nine 5-on-5 scoring chances, and they scored four goals off coverage,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “Obviously, the tip-ins, those deflections, those are getting beat to the netfront. They were just coverage. Coverage goals that we have to be better at. … Find a way, I don’t care. We need to find two points.”
With 18 games remaining on the schedule, Winnipeg is running out of time to find clear solutions.
“Got to be a little bit sharper,” Jets forward Kyle Connor said. “Talk it out and know who we have in coverage. … For whatever reason, kind of a lack of discipline in a lot of ways in our own zone that leads to some of those goals.”
Winnipeg will once again be short-handed, with forwards Nino Niederreiter and Vladislav Namestnikov, as well as defensemen Neal Pionk and Colin Miller, still unavailable as they continue to recover from injuries.
Colorado forwards Ross Colton, captain Gabriel Landeskog and Artturi Lehkonen are out, while right winger Logan O’Connor could soon return to game action from a hip injury.
