MacKinnon inches closer to 50-goal mark as Avalanche defeat Jets 3-2
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored his 47th and 48th goals of the season to propel the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night. Jack Drury scored his career-high ninth goal of the season for the NHL-leading Avalanche, who ended a four-game road trip with a 4-0-0 record. Artturi Lehkonen added an assist in his return after missing 11 games with an upper-body injury.
Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 22 shots for Colorado. Mark Scheifele scored twice and leads the Jets with 34 goals. Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves.
Scheifele set a career-high in points when his pair of goals gave him 88 points. Colorado entered the game ranked 27th on the power play, but made good on a big opportunity. Six seconds after a 38-second two-man advantage expired, MacKinnon scored 13 seconds into the third to break the 1-1 tie with the power-play tally.
He added his second goal at 3:55. The Jets challenged MacKinnon’s second goal for goaltender interference, but it stood and gave Colorado a 3-1 lead early in the third. Up next The Jets begin a four-game road trip with a rematch in Colorado on Saturday.
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