Landeskog’s hat trick leads Avalanche to rout over Jets | CBC Sports

“Right away out of the gate I saw they were involved physically, real assertive on loose pucks. I liked their game all the way around,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “They checked the right way and they got rewarded.”

The Avalanche have won 10 straight at home, three in a row coming off a seven-game COVID-19 pause, and are 16-3-1 since Nov. 6. They put 42 shots on Connor Hellebuyck, who made 35 saves.

It was Landeskog’s first hat trick since Oct. 18, 2018, at New Jersey. He capped it when he scored on Rantanen’s rebound at 17:10 of the third, his 13th of the season.

Landeskog was more satisfied with how the team played defensively after giving up the first goal of the game.

WATCH | Landeskog’s hat trick propels Avalanche to win:

“When we play the right way and take care of our end first, for us that’s the recipe to win hockey games, making sure we take care of the defensive side of things first,” he said. “Offensively, we know we have enough skill and systems in place to score goals.”

The Jets had their three-game winning streak snapped and lost for just the second time since interim coach Dave Lowry took over for Paul Maurice, who resigned abruptly on Dec. 17.

Winnipeg won two road games coming out of a five-game pause but ended this portion of its trip with Thursday’s loss. The Jets’ next three games are postponed, and they play their fourth straight on the road next week in Detroit.

‘We had some good chances’

Winnipeg took an early lead on Mark Scheifele’s power-play goal, his ninth of the season, just 2:56 into the game. Nazem Kadri tied it later in the first with his 12th of the season, and then the Avalanche took control in the second.

“We did a lot of really good things. We executed on the power play. We managed the game, we got the pucks in and we had some good chances,” Lowry said. “There was a lot to like coming out of 20 minutes.”

Landeskog gave Colorado the lead when he knocked in a rebound at 5:20, and Rantanen made it 3-1 midway through with his 16th of the season.

Landeskog got his second of the night when he scored off MacKinnon’s rebound at 15:21. The Jets put 15 shots on Darcy Kuemper in the third period but couldn’t get one past him. MacKinnon made it 5-1 with his fourth goal of the season at 12:17 to cap a dominating night for the top line.

“They’re one of the best lines in the league. All three of them are elite. They’re elite at different things and they complement each other extremely well,” Winnipeg captain Adam Lowry said. “With an active back end like Colorado has, it seems like they come at you with four or five guys.”

Bowen Byram scored his fifth at 19:49 to finish the four-goal third period.

Kuemper had 34 saves.