Mikko Rantanen set a Colorado record with his 55th goal, Arturri Lehkonen had a goal and an assist in his return to the lineup and the Avalanche beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-2 on Thursday in Denver.
Colorado (50-24-7, 107 points) remains a point behind Dallas (47-21-14, 108 points) in the Central Division but would claim the title with a win at Nashville in the regular-season finale on Friday. The Stars finished their regular season with a 1-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
Evan Rodrigues also had a goal and an assist, Denis Malgin had a goal, Lars Eller added two assists and Alexandar Georgiev made 18 saves for the Avalanche, who are 15-2-1 in their past 18 games.
Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Kevin Stenlund scored goals and David Rittich turned away 21 shots for the Jets.
Winnipeg (46-33-3, 95 points), which clinched the eighth seed in the Western Conference on Tuesday night, sat many of its top players with nothing at stake.
Malgin tipped in Eller’s rebound at 13:33 of the first period to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead. It was his 13th of the season.
Winnipeg tied it up early in the second period when Jonsson-Fjallby slid a backhand by Georgiev at 2:15 for his sixth goal of the season.
Stenlund’s short-handed goal at 14:59 of the second put the Jets in front 2-1. It was his sixth tally of the campaign.
Colorado answered on the same power play when Rantanen beat Rittich with a one-timer at 16:11. He passed Joe Sakic (54 in 2000-01) for the most goals by an Avalanche player in a season and is two behind Michel Goulet (1982-83 Quebec Nordiques) for the most in franchise history.
Rodrigues scored on a wrister at 3:01 of the third, his 16th of the season, to make it 3-2.
Lehkonen, who missed 15 games with a broken finger, scored into an empty net at 18:31 of the third to seal the win. It was his 21st of the season.
The Avalanche announced before the game that captain Gabriel Landeskog, who has missed the season due to a knee injury, would not play in the postseason.
Colorado forward Andrew Cogliano left the game with an upper-body injury in the first period.
–Field Level Media
