Thursday, April 13, 2023 08:00 PM (ET)

Avalanche beat Jets, stay in chase for Central title

Field Level Media
Apr 13, 2023

Mikko Rantanen set a Colorado record with his 55th goal, Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and an assist in his return to the lineup and the Avalanche beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-2 on Thursday in Denver.

Colorado (50-24-7, 107 points) remains a point behind Dallas (47-21-14, 108 points) in the Central Division but would claim the title with a win at Nashville in the regular-season finale on Friday. The Stars finished their regular season with a 1-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

Evan Rodrigues also had a goal and an assist, Denis Malgin had a goal, Lars Eller added two assists and Alexandar Georgiev made 18 saves for the Avalanche, who are 15-2-1 in their past 18 games.

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Kevin Stenlund scored goals and David Rittich turned away 21 shots for the Jets.

Winnipeg (46-33-3, 95 points), which clinched the eighth seed in the Western Conference on Tuesday night, sat many of its top players with nothing at stake.

Malgin tipped in Eller's rebound at 13:33 of the first period to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead. It was his 13th of the season.

Winnipeg tied it up early in the second period when Jonsson-Fjallby slid a backhand by Georgiev at 2:15 for his sixth goal of the season.

Stenlund's short-handed goal at 14:59 of the second put the Jets in front 2-1. It was his sixth tally of the campaign.

Colorado answered on the same power play when Rantanen beat Rittich with a one-timer at 16:11. He passed Joe Sakic (54 in 2000-01) for the most goals by an Avalanche player in a season and is two behind Michel Goulet (1982-83 Quebec Nordiques) for the most in franchise history.

Rodrigues scored on a wrister at 3:01 of the third, his 16th of the season, to make it 3-2.

Lehkonen, who missed 15 games with a broken finger, scored into an empty net at 18:31 of the third to seal the win. It was his 21st of the season.

The Avalanche announced before the game that captain Gabriel Landeskog, who has missed the season due to a knee injury, would not play in the postseason.

Colorado forward Andrew Cogliano left the game with an upper-body injury in the first period.

--Field Level Media

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