Jets beat Avs 5-1, tie Leafs for 8th in East

[February 20, 2012]  WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) -- Bryan Little scored twice and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-1 on Sunday night to move into a tie with Toronto for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Ondrej Pavelec made 31 saves to help the Jets, playing the second game in an eight-game homestand, increase their winning streak to three and close within a point of Southeast Division-leading Florida.

Evander Kane had a goal and an assist, Kyle Wellwood and Andrew Ladd also scored and Blake Wheeler had four assists. Gabriel Landeskog scored for Colorado.

The Jets improved to 18-9-2 in the always-raucous MTS Centre.

Kane opened the scoring at 1:45 of the second period, beating goalie Semyon Varlamov with a quick backhander through traffic from the left circle for his team-leading 22nd goal.

Little was the recipient of a gift from defenseman Erik Johnson, whose blind clearing attempt gave the Winnipeg center a wide-open net to shoot at 3:30 of the second.

Landeskog beat Pavelec low to the blocker side on a power play at 10:42 of the period. The rookie has 15 goals.

The Jets restored their two-goal lead 46 seconds later when Kane's high shot ricocheted off the glass and Wellwood jammed it into the Colorado net.

Ladd and Little scored power-play goals in the third period to cap the scoring. Litle has 18 goals.

NOTES: Varlamov finished with 20 saves. ... Winnipeg forward Eric Fehr returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the previous four games. Jets defenceman Zach Bogosian sat out his third consecutive game with an upper-body injury. ... Avalanche forward Matt Duchene returned to the lineup after missing 20 games because of a knee injury.

[Associated Press]

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