WINNIPEG — Blake Wheeler scored once and added three assists as the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Colorado Avalanche 7-4 on Tuesday.
Mathieu Perreault, Kyle Connor, Bryan Little, Andrew Copp, Mark Scheifele and Jacob Trouba also scored for Winnipeg. Trouba, Scheifele and Tyler Myers each added a pair of assists.
Gabriel Landeskog scored his 26th goal of the season for Colorado, tying his career-high set in 2013-14. Carl Soderberg and Nathan MacKinnon each had a goal and one assist. Ryan Graves also scored for the visitors.
Connor Hellebuyck made 37 saves for the Jets (27-13-2), who have won two straight and improved to 3-3 in their last six games.
Philipp Grubauer stopped 14 shots for Colorado (20-15-8), which had ended a six-game losing streak with a 6-1 win over the New York Rangers last Friday.
The Jets scored three times on the power play and once shorthanded to lead 2-1 after the first period. They mounted a 4-1 lead early in the second, but the Avalanche scored twice late in the period to squeeze the score 4-3 after two.
After the Jets killed off a tripping penalty to Wheeler 13 seconds into the first period, Perreault scored his ninth of the season with a shot through Grubauer’s pads at 3:05.
Winnipeg’s first power play of the game led to Connor’s 15th goal of the season at 13:57.
Patrik Laine took a slashing penalty just over a minute later and Landeskog redirected in Barrie’s long shot at 16:04.
Laine was dinged for tripping early in the second, but Wheeler scored shorthanded with slick sequence with Scheifele. Wheeler dropped a pass to Scheifele, who quickly returned the puck to Wheeler in the slot for a one-timer that bumped up Winnipeg’s lead 3-1 at 3:22.
Little made it 4-1 at 6:32 with Soderberg in the penalty box for interference, but Soderberg made amends with his 12th of the season at 16:10. Graves followed up with a wraparound at 17:43.
Copp scored at 3:59 of the third and Scheifele made it 6-3 after Wheeler intercepted a pass and sent the puck to him on a breakaway. Scheifele’s shot hit Grubauer, the puck flew up and Scheifele swatted it into the net at 11:12 for his 23rd of the season.
MacKinnon recorded his 26th goal of the season with just over three minutes remaining. His point streak extended to seven games with five goals and five assists.
Barrie stretched his point streak to five games with one goal and seven assists.
Trouba finished Winnipeg’s scoring with an empty-net goal on the power play with 1:06 remaining.
Winnipeg travels to Minnesota for a game on Thursday. Colorado continues its five-game road trip against Canadian teams Wednesday in Calgary.
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press
