Jets on the brink of elimination as Nichushkin hat trick leads Avalanche to 3rd straight win

Valeri Nichushkin scored two power-play goals and added an empty-netter to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-1 victory over Winnipeg on Sunday that left the Jets in must-win mode for the rest of the first-round playoff series.

Artturi Lehkonen and Cale Makar also scored for the Avalanche, who took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven matchup.

Nathan MacKinnon had two assists for Colorado. Nate Schmidt had the lone goal for Winnipeg.

The Jets will look to avoid elimination in Game 5 on Tuesday night at Canada Life Centre.

With defenceman Brenden Dillon out after cutting his left hand at the end of a 6-2 loss in Game 3 on Friday night, Logan Stanley returned to the Winnipeg lineup. The Jets also brought in speedy forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby for David Gustafsson.

The Avalanche also made a change with AHL call-up Nikolai Kovalenko making his NHL debut on the third line. Forward Joel Kiviranta sat out.

Colorado came out flying in front of a vocal sellout crowd at Ball Arena, firing nine shots at Connor Hellebuyck over the first seven minutes.

The pressure was rewarded when Casey Mittelstadt won a puck battle over Stanley behind the net and slid it to an open Lehkonen, who fired in a wrist shot at 8:10.

The Jets seemed unsettled and had difficulty moving the puck out of their own zone. Team rhythm improved after Schmidt picked the top corner on Alexandar Georgiev's blocker side to tie the game at 13:56.

Georgiev made a brilliant pad save to stone Vladislav Namestnikov late in the first period. Colorado outshot Winnipeg 13-9 over the first 20 minutes.

Stanley's rough day continued early in the second period. He picked up a needless roughing penalty and was called for interference shortly after the Jets killed off the first minor.