Avalanche Double Up Jets 4-2 in Winnipeg's Season Finale

Evan Rodrigues and Artturi Lehknonen each had a goal and an assist for Colorado, as the Avalanche doubled up the Winnipeg Jets 4-2 at Ball Arena Thursday night.

Although a meaningless game for Winnipeg, the Jets did fare decently well in what was the final contest of the 82-game season.

Opting to sit a number of players as the season wound down, Winnipeg found itself without Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, Josh Morrissey and Nate Schmidt in what was a 'nothing' game, after having clinched a postseason berth on Tuesday. 

The Jets called up Dominic Toninato from Manitoba, while opting to dress David Gustafsson, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Karson Kuhlman, Logan Stanley and Kyle Capobianco as their stars rested up for the postseason. 

"Give them credit, they've worked very hard in practice and the coaches have worked them very hard, so the conditioning is there," Jets head coach Rick Bowness said post-game. 

"Our guys played very hard tonight. We did a lot of good things. That's an excellent hockey team over there, obviously playing for first place, so they had a lot at stake. We battled them every minute of the game."

Colorado opened the scoring with 6:27 remaining in the first period, as Denis Malgin chipped home his 13th of the season. A Lars Eller shot made its way through David Rittich, before Malgin pounced on the rebound. 

Kyle Connor gave the Jets their best opportunity, as he redirected a point shot off the crossbar over the shoulder of Alexander Georgiev. 

It took Winnipeg just 2:15 of the second period to knot the game at ones. Axel Jonsson-Fjallby took a Neal Pionk shot to his skate, kicked it to his stick and tucked it past Georgiev, making it 1-1. 

The back half of the frame saw a Vladislav Namestnikov tripping minor, which actually worked in the Jets' favour - at least at first.

Right off the face-off, Morgan Barron and Kevin Stenlund stripped the puck and raced up ice, to which Stenlund finished off the two-on-one for a shorthanded tally. It was his sixth of the year and gave Winnipeg a quick 2-1 lead.

But just 1:12 later, Mikko Rantanen hammered home his 55th of the year before the power play ran out. Evan Rodrigues found him cross-ice, to which he ripped the one-timer through Rittich, knotting it at twos.

Colorado maintained a slight shot advantage over Winnipeg, pulling ahead 17-16 to start the third period. 

Rodrigues got the Avalanche their second lead of the game 3:01 into the final frame. Should Connor Hellebuyck have been in net, the shot would have been saved. Rittich lost the puck between the legs of Brenden Dillon, to which Rodrigues' long-range wrister ended up being the winner. 

Lars Eller was awarded a penalty shot after being hauled down by Namestnikov on a breakaway with 8:52 to play, but Rittich stood tall, keeping the Jets within one goal of the reigning Stanley Cup champs. 

"Rittich did a great job there. He hasn't played in a while," Connor said. "I'm sure that's tough for him to step into a game like that but I thought he was awesome."

Artturi Lehkonen sealed the deal for Colorado on an empty netter from his own blueline, giving the Avalanche the 4-2 win. 

Rittich finished the night with 21 saves on 24 Colorado shots, while Georgiev turned aside 18 of the 20 pucks he faced.

With the loss, Winnipeg ended the 2022-23 season at 46-33-3. Thanks to Vegas' 3-1 win over Seattle, the Jets will now face the Golden Knights in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs next week. Games 1 and 2 are set for Tuesday and Thursday from T-Mobile Arena.