Game Four Recap: Nichushkin hat trick sends Jets to the brink

You could say the Sunday scaries are alive and well, but not for the Colorado Avalanche.

For the second straight game, the Avs took control and never looked back in a dominant 5-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Valeri Nichushkin led a mighty Ball Arena forward with his first career hat trick in the process.

With a 3-1 series lead, Colorado has a chance to clinch their spot in the second round with a win in Game Five. If they manage to do so, they’d face one of the Dallas Stars or Vegas Golden Knights. Nonetheless, it was Sunday Funday in the Mile High City. Here’s how it all went down!

First Period

Colorado made it look as though the third period of Game Three never ended, putting the Jets on the back foot. Eventually, they broke through when Casey Mittelstadt fed Artturi Lehkonen brilliantly for the opener.

While the Avs started well, Winnipeg slowly grew more into the game. Nate Schmidt would find the equalizer, and even after Jared Bednar challenged for offsides, the goal stood.

But yet, this did not deter the Avalanche. They continued throwing pucks at Connor Hellebuyck, with the likes of Miles Wood and Mikko Rantanen being shut down by the netminder. Hence, both teams still had all to play for after the first 20 minutes.

Second Period

Penalties became the name of the game, with each team taking a few penalties. One of the man advantages had to turn in one team’s favor eventually. Luckily for Colorado, it would help them. Vladislav Namestnikov’s holding penalty ended up in the back of his team's net, thanks to Valeri Nichushkin’s tip in front.

The Avs kept pushing after the go-ahead goal, looking to put the Jets down and out. While a few great shifts right after the goal didn’t go in, it took one superstar to get the job done going coast-to-coast with a miraculous goal: none other than Cale Makar.

One more late power play was gifted to the Avalanche, as Sean Walker had his helmet ripped off by Nino Neiderreiter. The roughing call led to Nichushkin getting his second of the game in the final minute, and a three-goal lead with 20 minutes to go.

Third Period

Rick Bowness had seen enough of Hellebuyck and decided to pull him for Laurent Brossoit for the final frame. He was busy early on with Rantanen pulling his best Sam Girard spin-o-rama impression being stopped.

There would then be a few injury scares for the Jets. Namestnikov took a slap shot right in the face from Schmidt and did not move for some time. He was transported to the hospital from the arena with a big gash on his face and a pool of blood on the ice for the third time in 48 hours. Hopefully, the former Av can make a full recovery.

Sean Monahan then took a stick to the face up high on the faceoff, going down himself. Luckily, he would be in much better shape than his teammate and didn’t get a slapshot from Schmidt. Speaking of slap shots from Schmidt, his next shot pinged off the iron loudly, in what was the best chance for Winnipeg all period long.

Colorado would tune it down and simplify the game for the final few minutes. With fans singing “All the Small Things” once again, teammates and fans alike wanted Nichushkin to find the empty net in the closing minutes to complete his hat-trick. He would do just that to cap off a brilliant 5-1 win.

Takeaways

Another outstanding performance from the Avalanche. They seem to have the Jets figured out, who look lost and unaware of what to do to handle this Avs team. Mittelstadt continues to be an issue, with his fourth point in two games - most of them being finished off by Lehkonen. Makar continued to do his thing with a highlight-reel goal, and of course, it can’t go without saying Nichushkin was stellar with his first career hat trick - both in the regular season and playoffs!

Other players of note: Georgiev was great once again with the backing of the home fans. This time, he only let in one goal which was a snipe from Schmidt. His 26 saves only helped the team's performance all game long. Joel Kiviranta would not play in this game and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Hence, we got to see the highly-anticipated NHL debut of Nikolai Kovalenko. Following in the footsteps of his father playing for Colorado, he was okay in his first game on the third line. He got his body in the way a few times, along with his stick. Otherwise, his first 7:17 of NHL time was the lowest on the team and fairly uneventful. He didn’t get many looks, understandably so making his debut in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Depending on how Kiviranta is feeling for the rest of the series, this could only be the start of Kovalenko’s time in the NHL at the highest level of competition.

The win is massive for the Avalanche, it should go without saying. They now have a commanding 3-1 series lead going back to Manitoba and have a chance to finish it off. The road record hasn’t been great all season, and they could show what they’re made of with a clinch away from Denver. On top of that, this is very similar to what we saw in 2019 against the Calgary Flames. The Avs lost Game One but streaked on for four straight wins against another Canadian team which looked lost and unable to keep up with the power of the Avalanche. Will we see a similar feat come Game Five, or will Colorado have to look to clinch on home ice instead for Game Six?

Upcoming

The series shifts back to Winnipeg for Game Five on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. MT. Colorado will look to close it out with a win.