Burns, Necas give Avalanche early lead in 3-2 win over Jets for 12th straight home win

Now Playing

Link copied!

DENVER (AP) Brent Burns and Martin Necas scored early and the Colorado Avalanche held on to beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Friday night for their fourth straight win.

Parker Kelly also scored for the Avalanche, who are 6-0-1 since their last regulation loss, a 6-3 defeat at the New York Islanders on Dec. 4. Scott Wedgewood finished with 20 saves.

Colorado has won 12 straight at home to move to 14-0-2 at Ball Arena this season with the 16-game home point streak the fourth longest in franchise history - and longest since going 20-0-2 in 2021-22. At 25-2-7 the Avalanche have 57 points - tied with the 2022-23 Boston Bruins and 2008-09 San Jose Sharks for the second-most in NHL history through 34 games.

Morgan Barron and Mark Scheifele scored for Winnipeg, which has lost three straight (0-2-1). Connor Hellebuyck had 24 saves.

Trailing 2-0, Winnipeg got on the scoreboard with a short-handed goal with 38 seconds remaining in the second period. Barron chased a loose puck down the ice, skated across in front of Wedgewood and tucked a backhander past the goalie for his sixth of the season.

Kelly restored Colorado's two-goal lead 1:58 into the third, deflecting a shot by Valeri Nichushkin past a screened Hellebuyck.

Scheifele pulled the Jets to 3-2 with a power-play goal at 3:38, deflecting a pass from Gustav Nyquist past Wedgewood from the left doorstep. It was Scheifele's 17th.

Burns gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 9:45 of the first period. Burns sent a pass towards Jack Drury that deflected off the skate of Jets defenseman Haydn Fleury and past Hellebuyck for his fifth.

Necas doubled the lead with 4:55 remaining in the opening period as he got a pass from Nathan MacKinnon on an Avalanche rush and put it past Hellebuyck for his 15th. MacKinnon got his NHL-leading 59th point and 31st assist to tie Necas for the team lead.

Jets: At Utah on Sunday to finish a three-game trip.

Avalanche: At Minnesota on Sunday.

---

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/nhl