The Colorado Avalanche bounced back with an important Game 2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.
The Winnipeg Jets fell to the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Tuesday night, as the visitors tied the series 1-1 and will head to Denver for Game 3 on Friday.
A five-goal second period saw the Avalanche score four times including three goals in the final six minutes. Connor Hellebuyck faltered again, giving up four goals on 31 Avalanche shots.
After his disastrous seven-goal Game 1 performance, Alexander Georgiev bounced back, allowing just two goals against on 30 shots faced.
"We weren’t expecting this to be an easy series," Mark Scheifele said post-game. "They’re a great team over there. We’ve just got to continue to roll with the punches.”
The Jets did manage to flip the script in the early stages on Tuesday, getting off to a much better start. But much like the result of the opening game, the score was flipped in Game 2.
Coming out with a flurry of shots, Winnipeg opened the scoring on David Gustafsson's first of the postseason just 3:16 into the contest.
Morgan Barron's replacement found himself in the right place at the right time and fired home the game-opener. His goal came off a strong setup play between defence partners Brenden Dillon and Neal Pionk, who both picked up helpers on the play.
Fans at Canada Life Centre were quick to remind Georgiev of his abilities with some impeccably-timed cheers.
Winnipeg was unsuccessful on its two opening period power plays, while Colorado was also kept off the board while on the man advantage. The Avalanche did wake up as the first period wore on, coming back from what was a 9-2 shot deficit to take the lead 15-12 through 20 minutes.
Connor Hellebuyck was the answer in net during the opening frame, but the Jets certainly needed to be better defensively to prevent some of the desperation stops from the last line of defence.
But things did not go well for Winnipeg in the middle stanza.
Miles Wood got his second of the series on a set face-off play for the Avalanche in the Jets' defensive zone. Ross Colton won the face-off, to which Wood fired the puck right through Hellebuyck's wickets, knotting things up at ones just 1:59 in.
Mark Scheifele restored the Jets' lead 8:37 into the frame, tapping home a one-handed redirection off a rush play from Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi. Scheifele's goal came just moments after Winnipeg successfully killed off a four-minute high-sticking double-minor.
Then, just after Connor came a goalpost away from making it a 3-1 game, Colorado tied it on a redirection from Artturi Lehkonen. Deflecting Cale Makar's point shot, Lehkonen's second of the postseason made it 2-2 with 5:44 to go.
It was all Avalanche from there. And both goals were the result of some unfortunate luck.
First, it was a Hellebuyck giveaway behind the Jets' net that led to Zach Parise tapping home the loose puck into the yawning cage.
Then Nathan MacKinnon found a streaking Josh Manson straight out of the penalty box as a four-on-four expired. He dodged the referee and made his way into the Jets' end, beating Hellebuyck calmly, doubling up Winnipeg 4-2 with just 6.9 seconds left in the period.
After pulling ahead 1-0, Winnipeg gave up four goals in the second period and scored just once, entering the third down 4-2, while trailing 29-22 on the shot chart.
The third period really didn't provide either club with much in terms of opportunity. Winnipeg was given a power play with 7:35 to go, but was unable to beat Georgiev.
The Jets pulled Hellebuyck with just under two minutes to play but it was Valeri Nichushkin who finished it off with 56 seconds remaining, as Colorado earned the 1-1 split and will see the two teams head back to Denver for Game 3 on Friday.
“They’re a fantastic team," Scheifele said. "They have been that all year. They have some world-class players that move really well and make you pay when you give them time and space. I think we gave those guys too much time and space tonight."
That game is set to be played at Ball Arena at 9:00 PM central time. And much like all of these Stanley Cup Playoffs, it can be viewed live on Sportsnet.
