Landeskog hat trick caps Avalanche six-goal rally against Jets

Gabriel Landeskog scored a hat trick, part of six straight goals by the Colorado Avalanche in a 6-3 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Ball Arena in Denver on Friday.

"You learn pretty early on, sometimes in this league [goals] come in bunches," Landeskog said. "And sometimes when they're going in for you, you want to keep doing what's working for you, and for me that's going to the net and trying to get my stick on the puck and deflect pucks."

Nathan MacKinnon scored twice in a return from injury, and Pavel Francouz made 25 saves for the Avalanche (38-10-4).
The center had 14 shots on goal, an Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques record.
"[MacKinnon] is a world-class player and one of the best in the league," linemate Andre Burakovsky said. "Just the things he does out there. He makes it easy for me too. ... He does a great job holding on to the puck and create for the other two guys."
Kyle Connor scored his 30th goal, and Connor Hellebuyck made 36 saves for the Jets (22-21-9), who have lost four straight.
"They're a fast team," Winnipeg forward Pierre-Luc Dubois said. "I thought in the first what we did well was we stopped them, we get the puck and we go. And then in the second and third, you give them 40 shots from the outside, at some point one's going to go in. I thought we just slowed it down and tried to find perfect plays. They're tough to play against. The more you sit back, the more they get opportunities and they just feed off that."

Colorado trailed 3-0 in the first period.
"A 3-0 hole is hard to come out of, but I felt like we were doing some good things in creating some chances at the start of the game," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "We knew if we corrected a few things on the defensive side we'd continue to get some of those chances. We'd have to beat Hellebuyck and capitalize better than we did in the first. We had some missed execution."
Landeskog cut it to 3-1 at 3:10 of the second period, MacKinnon made it 3-2 at 12:20 with a wrist shot, and Landeskog tied it 3-3 at 17:17 with a deflection of Valeri Nichushkin's shot.
"I know the score was bad, but our team had belief and felt like we could do it," Bednar said. "Then power-play goal by [Landeskog], I think the power play had just expired, but that goal was a big goal to get us started. The way [MacKinnon] was playing, I was just feeling like we were going to be able to do it. I think our room felt the same way."
Burakovsky scored 56 seconds into the third period to make it 4-3. It was his first goal since Jan. 14 (18 games).
"I've been working really hard on puck management and playing defense," Burakovsky said. "I think I've improved my game in those aspects. Tonight it just went the right way for me. It was good seeing it go in."

MacKinnon extended it to 5-3 at 12:13, and Landeskog completed his hat trick at 13:11 for the 6-3 final. It was his second this season, each against the Jets (Jan. 6, a 7-1 win).
Connor gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 2:13 of the first period off a rebound for his fourth 30-goal NHL season.
"Disappointing, I think, would be the biggest takeaway for us," Jets coach Dave Lowry said. "I liked the way we played the first. I liked the way we stayed with our game. And then the game got away from us. Their top players took it to another level. They started putting pucks in, they started using their speed. They started creating pressure, creating turnovers."
Evgeny Svechnikov made it 2-0 at 7:48, deflecting Josh Morrissey's point shot, and Adam Lowry extended it to 3-0 at 16:26 on a shorthanded breakaway.
"It's tough to swallow," Adam Lowry said. "It's frustrating. You come in against the Avs, the best team in the league, and build a 3-0 lead after the first period … collectively and individually, it's about accountability and looking in the mirror and trying to find what you bring to the table, what you can contribute collectively and go from there and build it out as the season wears on. We're over halfway, and you'd like to have that ironed out, and clearly that's an area we still need to get sorted out really fast here."
NOTES: MacKinnon held the Colorado/Quebec record with 12 shots on goal (Jan. 8 against the Toronto Maple Leafs; Nov. 1, 2019, against the Dallas Stars). Landeskog also had 12 (Jan. 9, 2018, against the Calgary Flames). The 14 shots were the most in an NHL game since Nov. 10, 2015, when Alex Ovechkin had 15 for the Washington Capitals against the Carolina Hurricanes. The NHL record (since 1959-60) is 19, held by Ray Bourque (Boston Bruins vs. Quebec, March 21, 1991). ... Connor has scored four goals in his past six games. His NHL career high is 38 scored in 2019-20. ... Landeskog has five NHL hat tricks, and has scored five goals in his past two games. ... MacKinnon played 22:13 after missing a 5-2 win at the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday with a lower-body injury. He has a three-game goal streak and a six-game point streak (seven points; five goals, two assists). ... Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen had three assists and has scored nine points (two goals, seven assists) on a five-game point streak.