The Jets didn’t have the best start on Tuesday, but they eventually battled their way to a much needed 4-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights. The next big test for the Jets will be a home and away against the league leading Colorado Avalanche. The Jets entered Thursday morning still five points out of a wildcard spot, with now just eleven games to go. The 30-29-12 Jets took on the 47-13-10 Avalanche, one of only two teams in the league to have already clinched their berth to the 2025-26 NHL playoffs.

The Jets line combinations looked the same as last game. The 3rd and 4th line most recently made some swaps, with Isak Rosen and Brad Lambert up on the 3rd line. Cole Koepke, Jonathan Toews and Gustav Nyquist formed the 4th line. Josh Morrissey’s defense partner continues to be Neal Pionk (instead of Dylan DeMelo), and Elias Salomonsson remains on the 2nd pairing with Dylan Samberg.

Despite some good and some not so great starts recently, Connor Hellebuyck got the start in goal . The Jets lineup now has just three players out due to injuries: Colin Miller, Nino Niederreiter and Vladislav Namestnikov. Hellebuyck entered tonight’s game with a 18-19-11 record, a 2.81 GAA and a .898 SV%. Tonight’s game started out slow before the Jets jumped out to a 1st lead period, but later on Nathan MacKinnon expanded his league lead in goals and led his team to a one goal win on this Thursday night.

The first almost 10 minutes of this game didn’t see any penalties taken, and each team had just three shots on goal. After a failed clearing attempt from the Avalanche following a face off in their zone, Josh Morrissey picked up the puck and found Kyle Connor near the slot. Connor carried the puck towards the middle before dishing a one timer pass to Mark Scheifele who blasted the puck past Mackenzie Blackwood for his 33rd goal of the year.

With this goal, Scheifele tied his career high in points with 87, the same amount he got last season in 82 games. Teams traded chances after this opening goal, but eventually the Avalanche were able to beat Hellebuyck with just over two minutes left in the 1st. Parker Kelly set up Sam Malinski at the point, and Malinski’s shot on goal was put home on the rebound by Jack Drury.

The first period ended tied at one. Shots on goal were 11-7 for the Avalanche, but overall it was a solid opening 20 minutes for the Jets. Other stats were pretty even, except for the Jets physicality early on, out hitting the Avalanche 10-2 in the first and blocking 9 shots on goal to the Avalanche’s three.

The 2nd period started with the Jets getting some scoring chances, before Brett Kulak took the first penalty of the game for holding Jonathan Toews. On this first powerplay of the game the Jets didn’t generate much of an attack, and this game continued to be tied at one approaching the halfway mark of the game.

Just over a minute after the Jets first powerplay, the Avalanche got their first powerplay of the night. Hellebuyck and the Jets penalty killers stayed sharp and didn’t allow the Avalanche’s red hot powerplay to give them the lead. Shots on goal halfway through the second were 12-11 Avalanche, as both teams continued to push for the next goal.

With two minutes remaining the Jets took another penalty, followed by their third penalty of the game with 32 seconds left in the 2nd. The Avalanche couldn’t capitalize on this short 5 on 3, and the game remained tied at one after 40 minutes. Despite the Avalanche having a few pushes towards taking the lead, the Jets outshot the Avalanche 10-9 in the 2nd. Shots on goal with 20 minutes to play were 20-17 for the Avalanche.

The Avalanche started the 3rd with 7 seconds left on their 5 on 3. Six seconds after it became 5 on 4, Martin Necas and Nazem Kadri set up Nathan MacKinnon in front for his league leading 47th goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later, Nathan MacKinnon scored again. The Jets challenged that MacKinnon interfered with Hellebuyck as the puck was going towards his stick near the crease, but the challenge was unsuccessful, and suddenly it was 3-1 Avalanche, who were now getting another powerplay after the Jets unsucessful challenge. Arturri Lehkonen picked up the assist on MacKinnon’s deflection for his 48th goal of the season.

It was a rough start to the 3rd for the Jets, but thankfully they killed off the ensuing powerplay (after a penalty from the Avalanche), giving them a little bit of momentum now down two goals. A few minutes later the Jets went back on the powerplay, and this time the Jets got this game to within one goal. Gabriel Vilardi and Cole Perfetti started a tic tac toe passing play that was tapped in close into the net by Mark Scheifele. This goal was Scheifele’s 2nd of the game and 34th goal of the season, all while setting a new career high in points with 88.

With just over six minutes remaining, Josh Manson and Morgan Barron dropped the gloves in a spirited tilt. Barron didn’t like the hit the Manson did on Haydn Fleury, which led to the fight which Barron unfortunately lost as he was taken to the ground. The Jets went to the powerplay but couldn’t get much going and now it was still 3-2 Avalanche with five minutes remaining in the game.

Devon Toews was called for slashing, but Neal Pionk was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, sending this game to a 4 on 4 with four minutes to go. Not too much happened on the 4 on 4, and now the Jets were down to the final two minutes. The Avalanche controlled the puck for parts of the final two minutes, and the Jets never got a real chance to send Hellebuyck to the bench for the extra attacker. The Jets lost tonight’s game 3-2, with the final shots on goal 35-24 for the Avalanche. These two teams will meet again on Saturday in Colorado.

After this mini two game homestand, the Jets will now hop on a plane to begin a four game road trip. Their regular season schedule continues on Saturday in Colorado with another game against the Avalanche. Puck drop for this game will be just after 6:00 pm CDT. Stay tuned here at Jets Nation for all of the latest Jets news (including any playoff push updates), plus previews and recaps on each Jets game this season.

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