Avs Drop 1st Home Game After Long Week Off

DENVER (The Sports Xchange) - Michael Hutchinson had 37 saves for his first shutout of the season, Shawn Matthias scored the game's lone goal and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Colorado Avalanche 1-0 on Friday night.

Joel Armia and Josh Morrissey had assists for the Jets, who have won two straight.

Hutchinson was sharp in posting his third career shutout. He blanked an Avalanche team that scored six goals in their home opener two weeks ago, their only other game at Pepsi Center thus far.

Hutchinson had 20 saves in the third period, including a big one on Rene Bourque, who had a great chance on the power play in the last five minutes.

The win was Winnipeg's first in three road games and came a night after beating Dallas at home. Rookie sensation Patrik Laine was kept off the scoresheet after getting two goals against the Stars.

The game was scoreless until midway through the second period. Armia had the puck along the left boards and stick-handled to create space before firing a pass to Matthias positioned at the opposite circle. He fired a one-timer through Semyon Varlamov's legs for his second goal of the season.

Varlamov had 20 saves for the Avalanche, who showed a little rust after their five-day break. Colorado was playing for the first time since wrapping up a four-game Eastern Conference road trip with a loss at Florida on Saturday.

The Avalanche nearly tied it in the second period on an odd-man rush, but Rene Bourque's pass to a charging Carl Soderberg on the right side went high and into the corner.

They dialed up the pressure in the third without any success. Varlamov came off for an extra skater with 1:23 left and the Avalanche got off three shots in with six skaters. Hutchinson made a glove save on Mikhail Grigorenko's bullet from the right boards with 54 seconds left.

NOTES: Colorado RW Mikko Rantanen made his season debut and played on a line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikhail Grigorenko. Rantanen, a rookie, started the season in San Antonio of the AHL while rehabbing an ankle injury in Sept. 17. ... The Jets recalled F Marko Dano from Manitoba of the AHL and placed F Bryan Little on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. The injury move is retroactive to Oct. 13. ... Avalanche C John Mitchell also returned to the lineup after missing the first five games with a hip injury. ... Colorado RW Cody McLeod and RW Gabriel Bourque were healthy scratches. D Fedor Tyutin (groin) was also out of the lineup. ... Winnipeg D Drew Stafford was scratched with an upper-body injury.