Avalanche stars, led by Cale Makar's incredible solo goal, stomp out the Jets again in Game 4

DENVER -- The Winnipeg Jets have a deep group of forwards, an excellent top pairing on defense and one of the best goalies in the world.

They don’t have Cale Makar.

In between yet another onslaught of power plays for the Colorado Avalanche against the suddenly undisciplined Jets, Makar scored one of the best goals of his distinguished NHL career. It highlighted both another dominant performance by the Avalanche in a 5-1 victory to take a 3-1 lead in this opening-round series and the difference in star power at the top of these two lineups. Game 5 is Tuesday night at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, where the Avs will have the first of up to three chances to knock out the Jets and advance to the second round.

Winnipeg has great NHL players. The Jets had a great season, finishing with 107 points and earning home-ice advantage in this series, particularly because they’ve been backed up by a relentless commitment to checking and frustrating the opponent up and down the lineup.

The Jets just don’t have a collection of stars quite like Makar, Nathan MacKinnon and friends. And unlike the regular season, that has mattered in this series.

Makar collected the puck in his own end and started a one-man breakout. Adam Lowry — Winnipeg’s best defensive forward and captain — actually knocked the puck off Makar’s stick as he entered the neutral zone. It didn’t matter — Makar settled the puck, using his body to get back down to the ice without slowing down.

Then he deked past a defender, skated into a 1-on-2 situation and still found enough space in the right circle for a wrist shot into the top-left corner of the net. It was a breathtaking, forever highlight kind of play and it gave the Avs a 3-1 lead.

Just like two days prior, this was a mostly even game with the Avs controlling the puck more until the Jets started a parade to the penalty box. It just happened one period earlier in this one.

Winnipeg took four penalties in the second. The Avs didn’t score on the first, took one of their own to negate the second and then Colorado’s big guns went to work.

Valeri Nichushkin scored twice as part of a hat trick — once to give the Avs a 2-1 lead and once to put a punctuation mark on a dominant 10-minute stretch with Makar’s magic in between.

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