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 And like his postgame, stitched-up face, it wasn't pretty.
The 31-year-old left winger scored the winning goal at 6:45 of the
third period when defenseman Zach Redmond's shot from the slot
caromed in off his shin past Jets goalie Michael Hutchinson.
During the first period, he had a spirited bout with Jets enforcer
Chris Thorburn and late in the third period he assisted on an
empty-net goal by left winger Blake Comeau, netting him the Gordie
Howe hat trick (a goal, an assist and a fight).
And then the official scorer took the assist away after the final
buzzer at the MTS Centre sounded.
The native of tiny Binscarth, Manitoba (population 425) couldn't
have cared less.
"It's nice to get a goal, but it's better to get a win," he said.
"It went in off my shin pad. I don't even know if Hutchinson stopped
it and it went in off me or if it was a rebound off my shin pad.
Just go to the net, drive the net. If you look at the goals in the
league now, you go to the net and they're usually rebounds."
McLeod needed five stitches to close a gash on his nose after
getting high-sticked by Jets defenseman Toby Enstrom. The gap where
his two front teeth should be? That has been a distinctive feature
of his for years.
His efforts didn't go unnoticed by his coach, Patrick Roy.
"He's always like this. He's a warrior for us. He's a guy that plays
with a lot of passion," Roy said. "He's a great leader in this
dressing room and he's a great leader for his club."
Colorado center Matt Duchene salted the game away with his 11th goal
of the season at 16:11 of the third period on a partial breakaway,
giving the Avs a 3-1 lead. Left winger Blake Comeau added an
empty-net goal with 1:10 left.
Enstrom opened the scoring at 14:40 of the first period with a
seeing-eye wrist shot that eluded Avalanche goaltender Semyon
Varlamov, who made 20 saves in his first game since missing seven
because of a groin injury. Left winger Andrew Ladd and right winger
Blake Wheeler drew the assists.
It was Enstrom's first goal in 41 games dating to Feb. 19 of last
season.
Enstrom, 31, who entered the game with six assists, is on pace for
one of his worst offensive seasons of his career. That's largely why
Winnipeg's highest-paid player -- he makes $5.75 million -- is
reportedly on the trading block.
Avs center Carl Soderberg banked a shot off Winnipeg defenseman
Tyler Myers' skate past Hutchinson to tie the score at 1 late in the
second period.
The Jets goalie, who will carry the bulk of the load now that Ondrej
Pavelec is out until the New Year with a lower-body injury, shrugged
when asked about having two goals deflect in off skates.
"It was just two unlucky bounces in that game," Hutchinson said.
"It's one of those things, we played well enough to win, but it was
just unfortunate that we didn't get the bounces.
"We were moving the puck around, controlling the play. It's just one
of those games where the puck didn't find the back of the net for
us. But if we play the way we did tonight, with the effort level we
had, I think we will be on the winning side of most games."
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Despite having a large territorial edge in play during the first
half of the game, including several lengthy stretches where Colorado
defenders were hemmed in their own zone for entire shifts, the Jets
were unable to increase their lead.
Jets coach Paul Maurice called it their best first two periods of
possession time all year, but it was too bad they weren't able to
leverage it for more than one goal.
"We weren't able to get pucks to the net, so two-thirds of our
offense never got to their goaltender," he said.
"We got a tough break on the tying goal and burned some energy on
the six minutes short-handed in a short period of time. But in the
end, you'll look at it, there will be two periods we liked an awful
lot of what we did."
McLeod took it upon himself to give his team a boost in the first
period of their seventh consecutive road game by engaging with Jets
enforcer Chris Thorburn.
"I asked him to go. We needed some energy and spark. No better place
to do it," McLeod said. "All I wanted to do growing up (was be a pro
hockey player). Once I got up here, I didn't want to go back.
"I did a lot of scrapping along the way and still do it. That's what
keeps me in the league."
A few of McLeod's buddies from his hometown drove in from the game,
as did his dad, Pete.
"It's a small farming community. A lot of people back there are Jets
fans, so it's good to beat them," he said.
NOTES: Jets G Ondrej Pavelec is out until the New Year after being
run into by Phoenix Coyotes forward Shane Doan on Saturday night. He
was reportedly seen leaving the rink on crutches. The Jets called up
G Connor Hellebuyck from the Manitoba Moose to replace him. ... The
Jets also called up forward RW Joel Armia. He was part of the
blockbuster trade that netted Drew Stafford and Tyler Myers for
Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian. ... In the press box as healthy
scratches for the Jets are D Paul Postma, D Ben Chiarot and RW
Armia. Joining them from the Avalanche are D Nate Guenin and C John
Mitchell.
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