It seemed like the typical reaction given the situation.
The Colorado Avalanche were getting beaten badly in the third period on the road by the Winnipeg Jets, when tempers boiled over after a scrum in front of the Winnipeg net. It culminated in a scrap between Jets’ center Jim Slater and Avalanche forward Maxime Talbot, and Colorado’s Cody McLeod - on the ice for a third-period power play in a 5-1 game at the time - getting a misconduct.
Somehow, Colorado ended up with a power play out of all that. Judging by his reaction - don’t read lips, by the way - it’s safe to suggest Winnipeg’s coach Paul Maurice didn’t agree with the call.
Worth noting that these two Central Division opponents face off again next Thursday in Denver.
Friday’s game, however, went to the Jets. They crushed the Avalanche 6-2, thanks to a three-goal outburst in the final period. Bryan Little scored the first ever hat trick for the Jets since that organization moved from Atlanta to Winnipeg, and goalie Semyon Varlamov was pulled after allowing five goals on 30 shots.
Not entirely his fault. The team in front of him, playing on back-to-back nights after an overtime loss in Calgary on Thursday, was flat, as the graph below from hockeystats.ca clearly shows.
“We got out-played from puck drop to final buzzer by a team that’s ahead of us. Just wanted it more than us, I guess. Don’t know why,” said Avalanche forward Matt Duchene, as per Mike Chambers of the Denver Post.
“We’re almost at 30 now, halfway through, and we have to figure it out fast,” added Duchene.
That’s four losses in the last five games for the Avalanche.