McLeod breaks tie in 3rd, Avalanche beat Jets 4-1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) It was as close to home as Cody McLeod will ever play a National Hockey League game, and he was only happy to oblige his family in attendance and those back home.
''It's a small farming community,'' McLeod said about his hometown of Binscarth, a 4-hour drive west from Winnipeg. ''A lot of people back there are Jets fans, so it's good to beat them.''
With his father, Pete, and some friends on hand, McLeod scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period to help the Colorado Avalanche defeat Winnipeg 4-1 on Monday night.
His goal wasn't highlight-reel material by any means. Former Jets defenseman Zach Redmond's shot from in close clipped McLeod and rolled past Winnipeg goalie Michael Hutchinson for McLeod's fifth of the season at 6:45.
''It went in off my shin pad. I don't even know if Hutchinson stopped it and it came off me or if it was a rebound off my shin pad,'' McLeod said. ''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.''
Carl Soderberg, Matt Duchene and Blake Comeau, who hit the empty net, also scored as the Avalanche snapped a three-game losing streak.
''It was our seventh game of our road trip,'' coach Patrick Roy said. ''Sometimes you can lose your focus. I'm very proud of our guys who stayed focused and paid attention to the details of the game. I thought we did a good job defending and we found ways to score the big goals.''
Toby Enstrom scored the lone goal for the Jets (10-10-2), who dropped back to .500 on the season.
Semyon Varlamov made 20 saves for his fourth win of the season. Hutchinson took his fourth loss, allowing three goals on 28 shots.
Two big saves by Hutchinson at one end were followed up by Enstrom's first goal of the season moments later to give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead at 13:40 of the first period.
The goal was the first in 41 games for Enstrom dating to Feb. 19.
Varlamov came up big on consecutive Jets chances in the second period - first against Drew Stafford and then Mathieu Perreault - to keep the deficit at one.
And with the Avalanche on the power play, Soderberg's shot from in front caromed off the skate of Winnipeg defenseman Tyler Myers and past Hutchinson to tie it 1-all at 16:43 of the second.
The Jets were left to lick their wounds after a game some felt they deserved to win.
''To be blunt, I thought we dominated - especially the first two periods,'' Myers said. ''We were just playing catch-up in the third. I thought in the first two periods we did exactly what we wanted to.
''You don't come out of too many losses thinking you deserved to win the game. We did a lot of really good things tonight. We controlled the puck in their end. I just thought we could have done a better job of getting the puck to the net. But there's a lot of positives to take away from this game.''
The Jets head on the road for three games to close out November, with their first stop coming Wednesday against Washington.
The Avalanche return home from their longest road trip of the season - a seven-game, 15-day trek. They play next on Wednesday night against Ottawa.
NOTES: Jets No. 1 goalie Ondrej Pavelec will be out until at least January with a strained knee sustained in a collision with Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan on Saturday night. ... The road trip matched the longest in Avalanche history.
