The Avalanche make their way back to Ball Arena after knotting up the series at one game apiece in Tuesday’s night contest against the Jets. Colorado will return to its home arena for their 329th playoff game. The Game 3 clash between Colorado and Winnipeg is set for an 8:20 PM puck drop and will be available for viewing on TNT nationally and Altitude TV locally.
ROUND ONE SCHEDULE AND RESULTS VS. WPG
- April 21 at Winnipeg - Game One; Result: WPG: 7 COL: 6
- April 23 at Winnipeg - Game Two; Result: COL: 5 WPG: 2
- April 26 vs. Winnipeg - Game Three, 8 PM MT / 9 PM CT (ALT, TNT, TruTV, Max)
- April 28 vs. Winnipeg - Game Four, 12:30 PM MT / 1:30 PM CT (ALT, TNT, TruTV, Max)
- April 30 at Winnipeg - Game Five, TBD
- May 2 vs. Winnipeg - Game Six, TBD May 4 at Winnipeg - Game Seven*, TBD
*If necessary
REGULAR SEASON RESULTS VS. WPG
- December 7 vs. Winnipeg (L, 4-2)
- December 16 at Winnipeg (L, 6-2)
- April 13 vs. Winnipeg (L, 7-0)
TAKING GAME TWO
Colorado bounced back from their Game One defeat with a 5-2 victory to bring the series level. The Jets kicked off the scoring early in the first period when David Gustafsson tallied his first career playoff goal. Miles Wood evened the game early in the middle frame off a quick wrist shot from a faceoff. Winnipeg retook the lead when Mark Scheifele redirected a pass into the back of the net. The Avalanche would receive contributions from Artturi Lehkonen and Zach Parise 2:57 apart to grab a 3-2 lead. With seven seconds remaining in the middle frame, Josh Manson raced in on a breakaway and slid the puck through Connor Hellebuyck’s five-hole to give the Avs a two-goal lead heading into the locker room. Valeri Nichushkin sealed the victory for the Avalanche with an empty-net goal with under a minute to play.
STAT SHEET STARS
Nathan MacKinnon registered his 58th career postseason assist, surpassing Peter Stastny for sole possession of the fourth-most helpers in Avalanche/Nordiques history.
Cale Makar recorded two assists and continues to pace all Avalanche skaters in points this postseason (1g/4a). Among NHL defensemen, Makar ranks first in points, tied for first in goals, and first in power-play goals. Tuesday night marked Makar’s 16th multi-point playoff game to rank seventh among all Avalanche/Nordiques skaters. He is the first defenseman in franchise history to begin his playoff season with back-to-back multi-point games.
Nichushkin potted the first goal of the postseason for the Avalanche. He’s scored in each of his last three Stanley Cup Playoff games dating back to 2023 as well as four of his last six postseason appearances dating back to 2022.
Mikko Rantanen notched his 60th career playoff assist to become the third skater in franchise history to reach the 60-assist mark, joining Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg.
Parise potted his first goal of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, his first tally since May 28, 2021, as a member of the Minnesota Wild. He became the second-oldest player (39 years, 270 days) in franchise history to register a game-winning goal behind Ray Bourque (40 years, 154 days) in Game Three of the 2001 Stanley Cup Final. Zdeno Chara’s (40 years, 30 days) game-winning tally on April 17, 2019, was the last time an NHLer scored a game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs at an older age.
Wood became the 10th player in franchise history to score in each of his first two Stanley Cup Playoffs games with the club and the first since Gabriel Landeskog in 2013-14.
Lehkonen recorded 1g/1a and has collected four points (2g/2a) through the first two games of the post-season. The Avs have posted a 7-1 record in the playoffs when Lehkonen registers a multi-point outing.
TEAM SUCCESS
The Avalanche have tallied 11 goals through the first two games. The last time the Avs scored 11-plus goals through the first two contests of a series was when they scored 11 goals vs. Tampa Bay (June 15 & 18, 2022).
It also marked the most goals scored through the first two games of an opening-round series in franchise history.
En route to leveling the series, the Avs have registered 78 shots on net through the first two games. That’s tied for the third-most to start a playoff run in franchise history.
PLAYOFF PERFORMERS
3
Rantanen is tied for sixth among NHL skaters with three helpers in this playoff campaign.
11
Lehkonen is tied for the sixth-most shots on goal among NHL skaters this postseason with 11 in two games.
70
Makar ranks first among all blueliners in Avalanche/Nordiques history in career playoff points (17g/53a) at just 25 years old.
QUOTE THAT LEFT A MARK
“A committed game from us for 60 minutes. Offensively, really strong and through the neutral zone keeping them to the outside and then in the d-zone trying to limit the grade-A looks that they get and let Georgie (Colorado G Alexandar Georgiev) see everything. For the most part it was a really good game from us.
- Colorado D Devon Toews on the team's effort in Game Two
