The Winnipeg Jets walked into the tunnel beaten, bruised and bummed after their 5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.

The four-goal loss was their third in a row. They are one game away from elimination, as the Avs lead the series 3-1.

“We always have some stretches where we play very well and then we get stretches where we don’t play the way we should be playing,” Jets forward Nino Niederreiter said. “They came out better out of the gates than we did and that’s something we need to change.”

Winnipeg had full control of the Avalanche in the regular season. The Jets went 3-0 against Colorado, winning two of those at Ball Arena.

The Jets were the Avs’ kryptonite in the first three meetings. But they’ve been the Avs’ fuel in the playoffs.

“They’re a fast team,” Winnipeg forward Mark Scheifele said. “They keep you on your toes, and clearly they’ve made those adjustments from the regular season.”

Winnipeg narrowly won a high-scoring game in Game 1. But since then, the Jets have been outscored 16-5.

The team’s frustration showed on the ice.

Winnipeg committed four penalties, and the Avs scored on two of them. This came after several players on both teams were involved in a helmets-off brawl to end Game 3 on Friday.

“You give them that many chances, we don’t get those chances until later in the game, it’s tough,” Scheifele said. “We weren’t forechecking as five, we weren’t connected, and they made adjustments, we didn’t.

“Obviously, some of them I don’t think we like that much.”

The fatigue was also noticeable. Connor Hellebuyck, the odds-on favorite to win the Vezina Trophy, was pulled in the third period.

Jets coach Rick Bowness said that decision was made to “give him a break” before Game 5.

“Just too much time in there having to make save after save,” Bowness said. “That’s not on him whatsoever. That’s on the players in front of him.”

The Jets were also beaten, physically. Defenseman Brendan Dillon missed Sunday’s game due to a lacerated hand, which he injured in Friday’s end-of-game brawl.

Forward Vladislav Namestnikov took a puck to the face in the third period Sunday, creating a pool of blood on the ice and forcing him to leave the game. Namestnikov visited a local hospital after the game, per Bowness.

“You never want to see that much blood, no matter what, no matter who it is. Especially a guy on our squad,” Scheifele said. “All you can do is hope and pray that he’s OK. That’s a scary one.”

The faces of Scheifele and Niederreiter were long as they approached the podium for postgame media availability. But that’s not a demeanor they plan on keeping.

A loss in Game 5 on Tuesday — in Winnipeg — would end the Jets’ season.

For the Jets to keep their season alive, their effort will have to be more like their three regular-season games against the Avalanche.

“We’ve got to wash this,” Scheifele said. “Flush it down the toilet and be excited to play in front of our amazing fans in Winnipeg and bring a better game and a more complete game through and through and get excited for that one.”