3 Takeaways From the Avalanche’s 3-2 Loss to the Jets

The Colorado Avalanche have only played two games so far, but it has largely been fireworks. Playing their old Central Division foes, the Winnipeg Jets, the Avalanche hoped to continue their positive momentum after splitting a pair of preseason games.

The Avalanche dominated in shots (34-19) and largely kept the Jets to the perimeter, but it was a night of unfortunate bounces. In the end, Kyle Connor came up huge for his team and helped fuel the Jets to a 3-2 win over the Avalanche.

Jets Getting Strong Goaltending

Goaltending was supposed to be in a tricky spot for the Jets with their star goalie wanting out and the embattled Stuart Skinner coming in to take over the starting job. Instead, the Jets have gotten strong performances out of Skinner and Wednesday was no different.

Skinner was outstanding against the Avalanche as they badly outshot Winnipeg. He turned aside 32 of 34 shots on the evening, the clear difference between the two teams. In the first period alone, he turned aside all 17 Avalanche shots to keep the game 0-0.

Even good teams run into hot goaltending from time to time. While it doesn’t excuse a loss, to a divisional opponent no less, it is one of those situations where you can write it off and move on. Good teams also have short memories and it won’t feel good for the Calgary Flames to see the Avalanche take the ice.

Third Line Makes an Impact

There are nights when the superstars are quiet, though plenty of them had multiple shots against the Jets. That is when team depth becomes important, and the Avalanche got all they could have hoped for out of their third line on the night.

With all the money handed out to superstars, General Manager Joe Sakic needed more out of his bottom six coming into this season. They delivered in this one, nearly helping the Avalanche eek out a close, hard-fought victory.

Jaden Schwartz was a difference-maker for the Avalanche, netting the first goal and assisting on the second by Fedor Svechkov (who also had a pair of points). The Avalanche feel a bit more balanced this season and it helps to know that coach Jared Bednar can depend on his entire lineup to play at least 12-13 minutes.

Blackwood Better Than the Numbers

Though the situation in net bears watching, Mackenzie Blackwood has been better for the Avalanche than the numbers show. He is now 2-1-0 with a 2.68 goals-against average and .895 save percentage but this game showed that it hasn’t always been his fault.

All three goals came off weird plays. The first two were deflections and even the best goalies in the world can only do so much when the puck rapidly changes direction. The third was a quick pass to the left hash that a world-class sniper (Connor) buried without hesitation.

Blackwood has largely been smooth and steady, if not quite the Vezina Trophy-caliber goalie that some predicted two seasons ago. Getting him the lion’s share of the starts may also help him find some consistency that has been lacking from his game in recent years.

On to the Next One

You can’t win them all and the Avalanche outplayed the Jets on their own rink. A few fortunate deflections and a standout night from Skinner ultimately made the distance. Against a bad Flames team, the Avalanche should feast once again and get their confidence back up.

Thursday and Saturday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs are just the appetizer for a much-anticipated home-and-away against the Dallas Stars next week. We may find out soon just where both teams stand in the Western Conference hierarchy.