Rantanen scores twice in the 3rd period to lead Avalanche past Jets 6-3 and into the 2nd round

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Mikko Rantanen scored his first two goals of the playoffs in the third period, leading the Colorado Avalanche to a 6-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night that clinched their opening-round playoff series in five games.

Rantanen, who also had an assist, scored twice in a span of just under four minutes early in the third period to snap a 3-3 tie.

“That’s the best hockey we’ve played for five games in a row all season long," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "And that’s what it takes this time of year, and that’s partly our experience, I think,”

Valeri Nichushkin, Yakov Trenin, Artturi Lehkonen and Josh Manson also scored for the Avalanche, who will play the winner of the series between the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights.

Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews each had two assists, and Alexandar Georgiev made 33 saves for Colorado.

“I thought the first couple periods we were maybe a little bit too cautious,” Georgiev said. “But in the third, we knew they would try to open it up (and) we scored a big goal, the fourth one, and kept playing smart. Very, very solid effort.”

Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey and Tyler Toffoli scored for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 26 shots.

“In the (last) two years, that’s by far the best playoff game we’ve played,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said. “It didn’t go our way tonight. Couple goals went in off of us. We had some chances that we didn’t score.

"Where was that in the first four games? That’s a question we’re going to have to answer ourselves over the course of the summer.”

The game was tied at 1 after a fast-paced first period and Colorado led 3-2 heading into the third.

Toffoli tied it at 3 for the Jets, who won all three meetings during the regular season. But Rantanen scored his first goal of the game two minutes later at 4:11 to put the Avalanche up 4-3. He added his second goal at 8:01.

Manson shot into the empty net with 2 seconds left to cap the victory for Colorado, which finished three points behind Winnipeg in the Central Division. It was the first time the teams faced each other in the playoffs.

Winnipeg became the first team in NHL history to allow five or more goals in each of its first five games to begin a postseason. The Avalanche outscored the Jets 28-15 during the series, including four empty-net goals.

“You work all year to give yourself an opportunity,” Morrissey said. “We had a great regular season. Out in five, it’s pretty disappointing.”

With the game tied at 1 in the second period, Trenin got his first goal and point of the series when his shot hit the post and he regained the puck and flipped it into the net at 5:42 to give Colorado a 2-1 lead.

Winnipeg went on its first power play a minute later and Morrissey’s one-timer from the point blew past Georgiev 14 seconds into the man advantage.

Lehkonen made it 3-2, but it came when Jets defenseman Neal Pionk inadvertently knocked the puck into the net with his stick with 6:15 left in the second.

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Colorado Avalanche's Josh Manson (42) and Winnipeg Jets' Nikolaj Ehlers (27) collide during the second period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets' Josh Morrissey (44) celebrates his goal against the Colorado Avalanche with Mark Scheifele (55) during the second period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Colorado Avalanche Valeri Nichushkin (13) scores on Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) during the first period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets' Kyle Connor, back right, celebrates his goal on Colorado Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev (40) during the first period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets' Neal Poink (4) takes the puck out of the net after a goal by Colorado Avalanche's Artturi Lehkonen during the second period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev (40) makes a save as Winnipeg Jets' Kyle Connor (81) looks for the rebound during the second period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Colorado Avalanche Yakov Trenin (73) scores on Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) during the second period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) makes a save on Colorado Avalanche's Ross Colton (20) during the first period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Colorado Avalanche's Yakov Trenin (73) celebrates his goal with teammates on Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) during the second period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Colorado Avalanche Artturi Lehkonen (62) celebrates his goal against the Winnipeg Jets with Mikko Rantanen (96), Casey Mittelstadt (37) and Samuel Girard (49) during the second period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Leading artificial intelligence companies made a fresh pledge at a mini-summit Tuesday to develop AI safely, while world leaders agreed to build a network of publicly backed safety institutes to advance research and testing of the technology.

Google, Meta and OpenAI were among the companies that made voluntary safety commitments at the AI Seoul Summit, including pulling the plug on their cutting-edge systems if they can’t rein in the most extreme risks.

The two-day meeting is a follow-up to November’s AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in the United Kingdom, and comes amid a flurry of efforts by governments and global bodies to design guardrails for the technology amid fears about the risk it poses both to everyday life and to humanity.

Leaders from 10 countries and the European Union will “forge a common understanding of AI safety and align their work on AI research," the British government, which co-hosted the event, said in a statement. The network of safety institutes will include those already set up by the U.K., U.S., Japan and Singapore since the Bletchley meeting, it said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the opening session that seven months after the Bletchley Park meeting “We are seeing life-changing technological advances and life-threatening new risks — from disinformation to mass surveillance to the prospect of lethal autonomous weapons.”

The U.N. chief said in a video address that there needs to be universal guardrails and regular dialogue on AI. “We cannot sleepwalk into a dystopian future where the power of AI is controlled by a few people — or worse, by algorithms beyond human understanding,” he said.

The 16 AI companies that signed up for the safety commitments also include Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung, IBM, xAI, France’s Mistral AI, China’s Zhipu.ai, and G42 of the United Arab Emirates. They vowed to ensure the safety of their most advanced AI models with promises of accountable governance and public transparency.

It's not the first time that AI companies have made lofty-sounding voluntary safety commitments. Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft were among a group that signed up last year to voluntary safeguards brokered by the White House to ensure their products are safe before releasing them.

The Seoul meeting comes as some of those companies roll out the latest versions of their AI models.

The safety pledge includes publishing frameworks setting out how the companies will measure the risks of their models. In extreme cases where risks are severe and “intolerable," AI companies will have to hit the kill switch and stop developing or deploying their models and systems if they can't mitigate the risks.

Since the U.K. meeting last year, the AI industry has “increasingly focused on the most pressing concerns, including mis- and dis- information, data security, bias and keeping humans in the loop,” said Aiden Gomez CEO of Cohere, one of the AI companies that signed the pact. "It is essential that we continue to consider all possible risks, while prioritizing our efforts on those most likely to create problems if not properly addressed.”

Governments around the world have been scrambling to formulate regulations for AI even as the technology makes rapid advances and is poised to transform many aspects of daily life, from education and the workplace to copyrights and privacy. There are concerns that advances in AI could eliminate jobs, spread disinformation or be used to create new bioweapons.

This week's meeting is just one of a slew of efforts on AI governance. The U.N. General Assembly has approved its first resolution on the safe use of AI systems, while the U.S. and China recently held their first high-level talks on AI and the European Union's world-first AI Act is set to take effect later this year.

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Chan contributed to this report from London. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations.

FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunk, center, speaks during a plenary session at the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, England, on Nov. 2, 2023. South Korea is set to host a mini-summit this week on risks and regulation of artificial intelligence, following up on an inaugural AI safety meeting in Britain in 2023 that drew a diverse crowd of tech luminaries, researchers and officials. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool, File)

A screen shows an announcement of the AI Seoul Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. World leaders are expected to adopt a new agreement on artificial intelligence when they gather virtually Tuesday to discuss AI’s potential risks but also ways to promote its benefits and innovation. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A screen shows an announcement of the AI Seoul Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. World leaders are expected to adopt a new agreement on artificial intelligence when they gather virtually Tuesday to discuss AI’s potential risks but also ways to promote its benefits and innovation. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)