Avs need to head home tied with Flames

In Calgary, Nathan MacKinnon scored his first of the playoffs and it was the game-winner midway through the first extra session for a 3-2 win for the Colorado Avalanche over the Flames.

“The last 10 games (of the regular season) we had to tie up a lot of hockey games and we also blew some leads, we were in close games all season … it’s been a dogfight,” MacKinnon said. “We feel good. We feel going back to Pepsi Center that we can hopefully win two games. Saying that, we have to take care of Game 3, but we feel good as a group.”

Colorado’s J.T. Compher and Matt Nieto scored in regulation, Compher’s goal came less than three minutes on the clock in the third period to tie the game 2-2.

“We’ve always had the confidence in this room and tonight shows it,” Compher said. “Down late or running into a hot goalie, we know we can win games against this team. We’re thrilled to be going back 1-1 and get back in front of that Pepsi Center crowd and try to get a lead in the series.”

Philipp Grubauer made 35 saves for the win.

Sean Monahan and Rasmus Andersson struck for the Flames.

“We have to be better,” Mark Giordano said. “We have to be a lot harder to play against and we know that. We had moments tonight but we have to put a full 60 (minutes) together.”

[WATCH: Avalanche vs. Flames Game 2 highlights | Complete series coverage]

Mike Smith took the loss on 36 saves.

“They seemed hungrier than us,” Sam Bennett said after the loss. “Seemed like they wanted it more than us and we’re definitely going to learn from that. We can’t sit back. Into Game 3, we’ve got to play with that urgency that they played with and I think we definitely learned a lesson tonight.”