Colorado took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets.
Colorado took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets.
Valeri Nichushkin scored a hat trick in the 5-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets in Game 4 to give the Colorado Avalanche a 3-1 lead in first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs best-of-seven series.
The first goal of the game came from Artturi Lehkonen when he grabbed a perfect pass from Casey Mittelstadt and buried the puck past Connor Hellebuyck at 11:50 of the first period.
Jets defenseman Nate Schmidt beat Alexandar Georgiev top shelf with a wrister to tie the game at 6:04 in the opening frame — which ended up being Winnipeg's only goal of the matchup.
It was the 29-year-old Russian's first NHL career hat trick, and his first goal was the game-winner, to boot. He had two power-play goals — the first Avs player to score a couple in a playoff game since Gabriel Landeskog in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final (Game 3).
Nichushkin and Lehkonen have goals in all four playoff games, which ties Nathan MacKinnon for the second-longest goal streak in franchise history (MacKinnon scored in the first four games of the 2022 postseason). Michel Goulet sits in the top spot with goals in the first five games to open the 1985 playoffs.
"We're playing well, I mean, starts with the effort and consistency and the discipline and he's (Nichushkin) one of those guys," head coach Jared Bednar said. "You always need your best players to show up in the biggest moments and he's certainly one of our best players. And you know, he's had a great series so far."
Nichushkin only had nine points going into the final game of the season after returning from a two month hiatus in the NHL's Player Assistance Program. He scored two goals in Game 82 and stayed hot so far into the postseason.
"It's awesome. You know, anytime someone gets hot, it's better to get hot around this time," Ross Colton said. "He's been awesome ever since he came back. He's a big part of this team. And you know, not even just scoring. He's around the PK (penalty kill), he's great in front of the power play, and he does so many little things great for us."
The top-six forward said he was nursing a groin injury after returning from his extended absence and his team missed his production while he was regaining his place in the lineup.
"He's just a special player. You know, when he's going and he's feeling it, it's a world of difference. He's really tough to handle and when you put him on a line with Nate (MacKinnon) and Mikko (Rantanen) it's even more tough," Andrew Cogliano said. "So you know for us having any chances here, going where we need to go, those guys need to be with our best players and they've been that throughout the series."
Cale Makar went coast-to-coast to score the third goal of the game with five minutes left in the second frame.
The puck drops for Game 5 in Winnipeg at 7:30 p.m. MT on Tuesday.
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