The Colorado Avalanche surrendered 7 goals to the Winnipeg Jets for the second time in 10 days and saw a flurry of third-period goals fall short Sunday night, as the Avs lost their playoff opener 7-6.
Captain Adam Lowry and Kyle Connor each scored twice to propel the Jets to the win. Connor's were ultimately the difference. He scored the Jets' sixth and seventh goals of the evening in the third period.
Cale Makar had a goal and two assists for Colorado. Nathan MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen, Valeri Nichushkin, Miles Wood and Casey Mittelstadt also scored.
For Avs netminder Alexandar Georgiev, the struggles continued. He allowed 22 goals over his final five appearances in the regular season. While he led the league in wins (38) he also allowed the most goals (183) on the year.
Justus Annunen is waiting on the bench should the Avs want to make a change – if healthy. Annunen was not available Sunday.
The Avs' six goals came against Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who is a favorite to win the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best in net. Hellebuyck made 40 saves Sunday.
Colorado limped into the playoffs, losing seven of its final 11 games, including a 7-0 drubbing at the hands of Winnipeg on April 13.
Here's the remaining first-round series schedule between Colorado and Winnipeg, with game times in Mountain Time:
- Game 2: Tuesday, April 23 | 7:30 p.m. | @ Winnipeg
- Game 3: Friday, April 26 | 8 p.m. | @ Colorado
- Game 4: Sunday, April 28 | 12:30 p.m. | @ Colorado
- Game 5 (if necessary): Tuesday, April 30 | TBD| @ Winnipeg
- Game 6 (if necessary): Thursday, May 2 | TBD | @ Colorado
- Game 7 (if necessary): Saturday, May 4 | TBD | @ Winnipeg
