For the first time in a long time, the Colorado Avalanche were on the right side of a rout. Okay, so, maybe their 5-2 victory over the Jets Saturday afternoon at Pepsi Center wasn’t exactly a runaway. But a three-goal win by the Avalanche has been a long time coming.
Four different Avs scored in the win, led by Matt Nieto, who scored his first two goals in an Colorado sweater. Nieto joined the club off waivers from the Sharks on Jan. 5. Jarome Iginla opened the scoring in the first and Nathan MacKinnon added another in the period to give Colorado a 2-1 lead at the intermission. Carl Soderberg scored a goal in-between the Nieto tallies and Matt Duchene had three assists. Eleven Avalanche booked points on the night.
Winnipeg did tie the game on two occasions, with a pair of goals from Adam Lowry, but Colorado struck back at each turn before opening things up in the end. Colorado remains the lowest-scoring team in the NHL, averaging 2.0 goals per game. Their 3.4 goals against are also a league worst.
Colorado had scored five or more goals in a game only one other time this season, in the season opener at Pepsi Center against Dallas. It was only the second time this year the Avs have won by a margin of three or greater; they had a 4-0 victory in Tampa Bay in game four of the season. The win snapped a nine-game losing streak and finally got them to the 30-point plateau. They have already won as many games in February as they won in January, one.
Colorado remains at home for their next two contests. On Tuesday the Atlantic Division leading Canadiens are in town, followed by Pittsburgh, whose 69 points would be good for first in the Atlantic but is only third in the Metropolitan, closes the homestand on Thursday.
