Eurolanche

Hutchinson helps Jets defeat Avalanche

Shawn Matthias scored in the second period and Michael Hutchinson made 37 saves to help the Winnipeg Jets defeat the Colorado Avalanche 1-0 at Pepsi Center on Friday.

The win was the 100th for Jets coach Paul Maurice, who was hired Jan. 12, 2014. The shutout was Hutchinson's third in the NHL.

The Jets (4-4-0) took the lead when Matthias scored at 8:29 of the second period. After skating back and forth with the puck while being followed by the Avalanche's Mikhail Grigorenko along the left boards, Joel Armia passed across to Matthias in the right circle for a one-timer past goalie Semyon Varlamov, who had 20 saves.

The Jets killed off a high-sticking penalty to Josh Morrissey, which began at 14:50 of the third period.

The Avalanche (3-3-0) had a quality scoring chance at 14:50 of the second period on a nice passing sequence between Blake Comeau, Rene Bourque and Carl Soderberg. But Soderberg wasn't able to get his stick on the puck while driving down the right side after Bourque passed through the slot.

The Jets thought they scored at 9:53 of the first period after Varlamov made a save against Blake Wheeler, but Mark Scheifele poked in the rebound after the whistle had blown.

The Jets played the second game of back-to-back nights after defeating the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Thursday. It was their fourth game in six days.

The Avalanche hadn't played since a 5-2 road loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday. The game was their second of the season at home, their first since a season-opening 6-5 win against Dallas Oct. 15.

-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --