Carter Brooks Winnipeg Jets Postgame Report The Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche kicked off the opening game of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a sensational back-and-forth marathon affair. A six-goal first period set the tone for what is expected to be a high-flying series. Adam Lowry got the lone goal of the second period, before the Jets and Avalanche once again put up six goals in the third period, putting the finishing touches on a 7-6 victory performance. Both Lowry and Kyle Connor scored twice for the Jets, while seven total Jets had multi-point outings. Connor Hellebuyck made 39 stops for his first win of the postseason, while Alexander Georgiev gave up seven goals on 22 shots faced. “They are a team that basically all season has been talked about as a Stanley Cup favourite, right?" Brenden Dillon said post-game. "They’ve got one of the best players the world, a bunch of super stars. They are a good team, credit them. "But we’re confident in the depth we’ve got here. We’re confident in the way we can defend. For us, we know we can be a lot better in certain areas, but at the end of the day we are happy that we can get the win.” Colorado opened the game exactly how it wanted to, by getting the home town crowd out of it early. The visitors peppered Connor Hellebuyck with 10 shots in the game's first four minutes, outshooting Winnipeg 10-1 in the process. It was the 11th shot by the Avalanche that finally found the twine. Catching the Jets on a bad line change, Colorado's Valeri Nichushkin broke in all alone and ripped it past Hellebuyck 6:10 into the period. But Josh Morrissey got one right back for Winnipeg less than two minutes later, putting a seeing-eye point shot through a Brenden Dillon screen, getting Jets fans right back into it. Then, Vladislav Namestnikov gave Winnipeg its first lead, striking gold on a slap shot from the slot on an Avalanche turnover. But it was Colorado that bounced back next. Two goals in a span of just 18 seconds had the Jets trailing once again. First, it was Miles Wood capitalizing on Dylan Samberg turnover, before speedster Nathan MacKinnon beat Hellebuyck five-hole for a 3-2 Avalanche lead. But, as was the early storyline, the Jets responded quickly, knotting it up at threes on Mark Scheifele's first of the postseason. He got a pass from Gabe Vilardi netfront, and buried it, tying the game before the two clubs went to the intermission after the frantic start. Winnipeg's three goals came on just seven shots on net, while Colorado had 14 shots in the opening frame. Two goals came 18 seconds apart, while three goals were scored in 66 seconds. Four goals came in 3:56, while all six goals were produced in 9:43 of total game time in the first period. Winnipeg also scored first in the middle stanza, as captain Adam Lowry put the 4-3 goal home, five-hole on a two-on-one rush play up ice. His first of the postseason came 9:57 into the frame, which actually held up to be lone marker of the frame. The Jets entered the third period up 4-3 while trailing 25-17 on the shot chart. The third period couldn't have started any better for Winnipeg, which got another goal from captain Lowry, before Kyle Connor hammered home a power play marker six minutes in, doubling up the Avalanche 6-3. Entering the period 37-1-1 on the season when ahead after 40 minutes of play, Winnipeg opted to improve that record by one. The Avalanche got one back a few minutes later with Mason Appleton in the box for roughing. Connor got his second of the game making it 7-4 on a setup from linemates Vilardi and Scheifele. But with Dylan DeMelo in the box for tripping, Cale Makar found his first of the series, cutting Winnipeg's lead to two goals. The Avalanche pulled Georgiev for the extra attacker and managed another net-front bank-shot by Casey Mittlestadt, making it 7-6 with 29 seconds left to play. The Jets tightened their boot straps and shut things down for the final half minute, helping themselves to the series-opening 7-6 victory, and a 1-0 lead in the process. Next up is Game 2 set for 8:45 PM central time on Tuesday night also from Canada Life Centre. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA1OTA4OTk0NjEzNTg1MTc0/thn.jpg]
