(Photo credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images)

When the Colorado Avalanche visited Winnipeg on March 14th, they were in the midst of four losses in five games that trimmed their Central Division lead to two points.

Nearly two weeks later, Colorado (47-13-10, 104 points) is surging and has built a cushion in the division with 12 games remaining entering Thursday night's rematch in Winnipeg.

The Avalanche have won three in a row and look to avenge that 3-1 loss against Winnipeg (30-29-12, 72 points), which is trying to stay in the wild-card race in the Western Conference. Colorado's latest victory, 6-2 at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, was the season debut of center Logan O'Connor.

O'Connor missed the first 69 games recovering from offseason hip surgery and made an immediate impact with an assist on Parker Kelly's goal that capped a three-goal spurt in 1:55 of game time late in the first period.

'That's been a long time coming,' O'Connor said. 'Hopefully, as the games go on, (I) feel more and more comfortable and continue to find my game more and to my identity as it goes on.'

His return helped with the absences of Artturi Lehkonen and Nicolas Roy with upper-body injuries.

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said on his radio show Wednesday morning that Roy will miss 'a little bit of time.'

Colorado still has plenty of firepower, led by Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon leads the NHL with 46 goals and is third in league points with 115. Martin Necas, who had two goals against the Penguins, has a career high in goals (34) and points (88).

The Jets have won two in a row and earned points in three straight games in their push to stay in the playoff hunt. Winnipeg was the President's Trophy winner in 2024-25 but after a strong start to this season, the team has just one winning streak of four games since the end of October.

The Jets are 4-1-2 in their last seven games, including Tuesday night's 4-1 win over Vegas, and need every point. They trail Nashville by five points for the final wild-card spot.

'We have been pushing since the break, pushing our hardest every day,' said Mark Scheifele, who had a goal and two assists in the victory. 'And all we can do is control what we can control and tonight we played a great game, and it showed throughout the entire game.'

Scheifele leads Winnipeg in scoring with 86 points (32 goals, 54 assists) and is one point from matching his career high set last season. Kyle O'Connor is second on the team with 81 points (32 goals, 49 assists) and Gabriel Vilardi is third with 59 points (27 goals, 32 assists).

Thursday night is the third of four games between the teams and the first leg of a home-and-home. They play again Saturday night in Denver to wrap up the season series, which is even after two games.

The Avalanche won the first meeting, 3-2, at home on Dec. 19.

--Field Level Media