In Winnipeg, the Colorado Avalanche were in no mood to head home with an 0-2 deficit in their first round Stanley Cup Playoffs series with the Jets.
Four goals in the middle frame helped send the Avs to a 5-2 win to even their series at 1-1.
“Obviously, it’s an important win,” Colorado’s Andrew Cogliano said. “We thought we played well in the first game (a 7-6 loss) and didn’t get the result. I thought tonight we dug in. Went down early but it seemed like all four lines contributed, our [defense] played great and [Georgiev] had a bounce-back game, so tied the series. When you play in a building like this against a team like that, 1-1 going home into our building is a pretty good spot to be.”
Alexandar Georgiev made 28 saves in the win.
“They showed so much support to me over the last couple of days. A very rough first game, obviously,” Georgiev said of his teammates. “I just felt so much trust in the room from everybody and I appreciate it so much. It helped me reset, to know that they have got my back. I know I’ll help them out as well during this playoff. It was huge from them. I appreciate it.”
The Jets took a 1-0 lead in the opening stanza on a strike by David Gustafsson at 3:15, scoring off a rebound.
“We were a lot better in certain areas,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “We had some lapses, certainly at the end of the second and it kind of caught up to us a little bit. We had the start we really wanted and then they got their power play and finished up strong in the first. But for the most part it was a lot better in areas, and there’s still improvement to be made.”
In the middle frame, Miles Wood scored at 1:59 to knot the game up at 1-1. scoring off a face off win.
“Through the playoffs, you need lines to score, especially the third and fourth lines,” Cogliano said. “I thought Miles had a great goal from their line and we were able to chip in. Big two goals and sometimes that’s the difference in games like tonight.”
The Jets replied with a marker from Mark Scheifele just 32 seconds later, scoring off a one-handed effort.
“Fantastic pass by Gabe (Gabriel Vilardi) ,” Scheifele said. “I knew the guy was kind of there and he didn’t really know where the puck was, so if I had to go two-handed there, he probably reacts in the same fashion. I just made a judgment call.”
Game 3 is set for Denver on Friday.
Artturi Lehkonen tied the game, 2-2, at 14:16 of the second.
“[Lehkonen] is a competitive, competitive guy,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “When you talk about all-around, good players that play the game the right way, and it’s not always showing up on the stat sheet for a guy like [Lehkonen]. I can pick guys around the league that I’m a big fan of the way they play for multiple reasons. He’s one of them. When you do the right things all the time, day after day, practice, games, and you’re an intense competitor, it’s going to pay off for you at some point. I feel like we’ve seen that out of [Lehkonen]. Big moments, just doing the right thing.”
The Avalanche took the lead, 3-2, at 17:20 on a strike by Zach Parise, he scored off a rebound of his initial shot on goal.
“I think we did a good job of realizing that’s a fluky one, right,” the Jets’ Kyle Connor said. “How many times does Connor [Hellebuyck] go back and play the puck and it’s bang-up, no problem. Our forwards can do a bit better job picking the forwards coming in, too. Maybe a little skate screen can help him out. It’s a team effort there, but at the same time I think that’s one of those you just brush off.”
The Avs scored the dagger goal with seven seconds left in the frame for a 4-2 lead headed to the third.
Josh Manson scored on a breakaway after exiting the penalty box.
“Just to be able to put it away, that was nice,” Manson said. “It was obviously not my best effort in Game 1, so I wanted to focus on that. Those things happen like that sometimes, so it was nice.”
Valeri Nichushkin added an empty-net goal with 57 seconds left for the 5-2 final count on the scoreboard. 
“It’s a playoff series. We’re good at home, they’re good at home,” Cogliano said. “We get a 1-1 split in a tough building, so I think we take the positives from that and now we go home to a place we’re pretty comfortable playing.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves in the loss.
“It was a tough fought game, and [we] probably gave them a little bit too much zone time and a little bit too much space at times in that game,” Scheifele said. “But also we had some good shifts in there too. We have two days of rest here now. We need to ramp it up as it’s the playoffs. You’re not going to win every game, but you’ve just got to be ready for the punches that are thrown.”
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