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3 things that caused the Colorado Avalanche to fall to the Winnipeg Jets

By Kyle Marshall

DENVER, COLORADO - OCTOBER 19: Logan O'Connor #25 of the Colorado Avalanche handles the puck in front of the goal in the second period against the Winnipeg Jets at Ball Arena on October 19, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
DENVER, COLORADO - OCTOBER 19: Logan O'Connor #25 of the Colorado Avalanche handles the puck in front of the goal in the second period against the Winnipeg Jets at Ball Arena on October 19, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /
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The Winnipeg Jets needed a win and the Colorado Avalanche needed a spark, but the former got their wish tonight in Denver, Colorado. The Jets jumped out to an early lead, ending the first period up 2-0. Winnipeg would get another tally in the second, but Mikko Rantanen would notch two goals of his own and Valeri Nichushkin found the back of the net to tie the game after two. The third period became a slugfest with both teams staying even, but the Jets would prevail on a monster shot by Neal Pionk that Alexandar Georgiev had no chance of stopping, giving the Jets the victory in the extra period.

So where did things go wrong?

Sloppy Puck Control

Throughout most of the first two periods, the Colorado Avalanche just couldn’t seem to manage the puck movement very well. Passes missed their mark, shots went wide of the next, and overall they just looked sloppy utside of the top line, and even they had their lackluster moments this evening.

Bad Penalties

Once again, sitting in the box bit the Avalanche in the rear end.

Through four games this season the Penalty Kill is ranked dead last in the league. It’s weird to think about when they had one of the best PK units last season. Maybe it’s inexperience among some of the newcomers. Maybe it’s the vets playing slow and drawing bad penalties? I don’t know, but they need to figure it out, and fast.

Lack of Depth

On a night where young players needed to step up, it felt like the Colorado Avalanche’s 4th line was non-existent, and tonight it absolutely was. Granted, outside of the top line and half of the second line, most of our depth was invisible. Anton Blidh and Jayson Megna were both called up from the Eagles in the last couple of days and didn’t do a single thing noteworthy tonight. Granted, their minutes were also non-existent. Kurtis MacDermid was the healthy scratch, but let’s be honest, that’s sort of expected at the moment.

The Avalanche are far from being completely terrible. We still have some amazing forwards and defensive players that are going to keep them in games like they did tonight. But, they need to fix all of the small things so they can bounce back against Seattle and Vegas in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday. We’ll also see if any new players join the squad before then.

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