Connor scores twice, Jets defeat Avalanche for 3rd straight win

DENVER -- Kyle Connor scored twice for the Winnipeg Jets in their third straight win, 4-2 against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Thursday.

Josh Morrissey had a goal and an assist, and Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves for the Jets (15-8-2), who have won seven of their past 10 games.

“That was a great effort, it really was,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “It's a great hockey team over there. We talked about it this morning -- we want to be considered an elite team, and you’ve got to beat the teams ahead of you. And we proved tonight that we can play with anybody.”

Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, extending his point streak to 10 games, and Alexandar Georgiev made 24 saves for the Avalanche (16-8-2), who have lost four of five (1-2-2).

“The start of the game for me [was] too safe, just too vanilla,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I felt like we lacked the intensity and sort of urgency; intensity on the offensive side that we need to create scoring chances, and urgency on the defensive side. I felt like we handed them some goals tonight. We didn't make them earn them, like the first two. We have the turnover at the end of the period where we probably can do anything else with it but that, and it's in the back of our net.”

Adam Lowry gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 19:57 of the first period when he fired a wrist shot over the blocker of Gerogiev. Devon Toews turned the puck over to Axel Jonsson-Fjallby along the boards, who then fed Lowry while he was streaking down between the circles.

“There's 10 seconds left, ‘Ax’ gets on the forecheck, creates a turnover,” Lowry said. “I thought we played a really solid period, but to come in up 1-0, it's a different feeling than [if] you battle hard and you're not rewarded.”

Connor extended the lead to 2-0 just 32 seconds into the second period when he beat Georgiev five-hole from the right circle.

“The start of the second period, [Connor] comes out and scores. It's 32 seconds in, and before you know it, it's been under 40 seconds, we're up 2-0 and have kind of started to take over the game,” Lowry said. “Anytime you can kind of hold off a team that's thrown [Mikko] Rantanen, MacKinnon, and [Cale] Makar out there, you’ve got to feel good about yourself.”

MacKinnon cut it to 2-1 at 2:30. He skated into the offensive zone and around defenseman Logan Stanley with speed, sliced across the crease, and scored on a backhand.

“He's obviously been crucial,” Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar said. “His play's just been elevated to a completely new level, and he does that every year. Doesn't shock me.”

Morrissey fired a slap shot from just above the left circle that went in far side to make it 3-1 at 15:13.

“We always talk about trying to be an elite team. We want to be considered one of the best in this conference, one of the best in the division,” Lowry said. "We talked about if you want to be in that conversation, you’ve got to beat those elite teams, and I thought we did a really good job.”

Joel Kiviranta cut it to 3-2 at 19:29 after MacKinnon set him up for a close-range shot from atop the crease that went off the blocker of Hellebuyck.

“I still think we need some stars to be better than they were tonight,” Bednar said. "We're kind of hit-and-miss throughout our lineup here for the last little bit. It's costing us.”

Connor scored an empty-net goal with 37 seconds left in the third period for the 4-2 final. It was his 17th goal of the season.

NOTES: Connor has 36th career multigoal games; the only players in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history with more are Ilya Kovalchuk (46) and Mark Scheifele (39). … It was Hellebuyck’s 250th NHL win. He’s the eighth U.S.-born goalie and the eighth active regardless of nationality to reach the mark. … MacKinnon has 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) during his point streak. Mackinnon also extended his home point streak to 12 games (23 points; seven goals, 16 assists). … Jack Johnson played his 1,133rd career game and moved past Ron Hainsey for 10th among U.S.-born defenseman in NHL history.