Mark Scheifele had a goal and two assists, and Josh Morrissey had a goal and an assist for the Jets, who are the No. 2 seed from the Central Division. Connor Hellebuyck made 40 saves.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 following a turnover before MacKinnon made it 3-2 with a wrist shot from the left circle.
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.
Lowry made it 4-3 at 8:57 of the second period, keeping on a 2-on-1 rush and sliding the puck between Georgiev’s pads.
Lowry extended it to 5-3 at 3:31 of the third period. He took a pass in the right circle, drove to the net and stuffed the puck around Georgiev’s outstretched right pad. Video review determined that the puck crossed the goal line after hitting both posts.
Connor pushed it to 6-3 at 5:51, scoring with a one timer from the right circle on the power play.
Lehkonen cut it to 6-4 at 6:29 when he redirected Makar’s point shot past Hellebuyck on the power play.
Connor made it 7-4 at 8:54 with a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Vilardi from below the goal line.
Makar’s power-play goal, a wrist shot from the point through traffic, cut it to 7-5 at 12:24.
Casey Mittelstadt batted in a loose puck at the top of the crease with 30 seconds remaining for the 7-6 final.
