In Edmonton, it looked like the Colorado Avalanche had found their game.
Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen scored in the first and second periods, respectively, and built a 2-0 lead over the Dallas Stars in Game 2 of their series.
The problem for the Avs was, they left their offense right there and then abandoned their defense.
The Stars reeled off five unanswered goals for a 5-2 win and 2-0 series lead.
“For us, it’s a seven-game series for a reason,” the Avs’ Gabriel Landeskog said. “We feel more than anything we’re in this thing, and we’ve been up 2-0 before and we know how quick it can turn, and all of a sudden, tie series. It’s a seven-game series for a reason, and there’s no quit in this the group.”
Anton Khudobin made 38 saves to get the win.
“We were expecting that they were going to come hard as they usually do,” Khudobin said. “I wasn’t really focusing on the score. I knew we were down. … It’s a long game, it’s 60 minutes, so I got to just do my job and stop them.”
Dallas scored four goals in a span of 9:-2 in the middle frame including two power play goals in 43 seconds.
“We’ve had some comeback wins,” Dalas’ Joe Pavelski said. “… There’s no quit in [our] team. For us to come out and do that in the playoffs, it’s good.”
Pavelski and Radek Faksa scored the power play goals to get the Stars even.
“My goal is to make sure our team is responding after goals-against or bad bounce here or there, and we still have this belief that we can bounce back from things that are thrown at us,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said. “There are a lot of things I liked, it’s certainly a step forward from Game 1, but now we’ve put ourselves in a hole.”
Alexander Radulov had a goal in the second period, and Esa Lindell ended the scoring in the middle frame when he connected with under a minute left on the clock to make it 4-2.
“Until you can put a team away, you just can’t feel comfortable,” Pavelski said. “… That’s a good team. We’ve done our job so far, but there’s a ways to go. We’ll catch our breath and see where we can improve in certain areas and come back at them.”
Jamie Oleksiak added an empty net goal with 10 seconds left on the regulation clock.
Game 3 is set for Wednesday.
[WATCH: All Stars vs. Avalanche Game 2 highlights]
Pavel Francouz made 22 saves in the loss.
“I mean, this is something I’ve always dreamed about, a chance for me,” Francouz said. “It depends on me how I take this responsibility and help the team win four more games. I’m into it. I know I can help the team more. Just help the team to win, that’s my goal.”
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