WINNIPEG -- The Colorado Avalanche will try to gain a split of the first two games of the Western Conference First Round when they visit the Winnipeg Jets in Game 2 at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, ALT, ESPN).
Game 1 was a high-octane affair, won by the Jets 7-6 on Sunday.
“I thought we played well for the most part," Avalanche center Ross Colton said. "Obviously, we’ve got to do a better job in front of [goalie Alexandar Georgiev]. We’ve got to clean up some areas.
"We did enough to win. We watched some video here this morning and did a good job learning some stuff. We just need to build off that energy, keep the spirits high and stay motivated.”
Last season, Winnipeg won the opening game of the first round against the Vegas Golden Knights, but lost the next four and were eliminated. The Jets don’t want to repeat the mistakes that led to that exit.
“We won Game 1 last year and then we kind of took our foot off the gas pedal a little bit in the second game," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. "It’s the exact opposite. We need to put our foot on the pedal.
“Again, Vegas came out at us hard in the second (game), well, we’ve got to come out hard (against Colorado). We do. They’ve got to put the foot back on the pedal and get going again.”
Teams that take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series have an all-time record of 348-55 (.864).
Here are 3 keys for Game 2:
1. Avalanche backup plan
Georgiev was in the starter’s net and is expected to play in Game 2, but this time he’d be backed up by a goalie with NHL experience.
With goalie Justus Annunen out with an illness, the Avalanche recalled Ivan Prosvetov from Colorado of the American Hockey League on Monday and reassigned Arvid Holm, who was the backup for Game 1 despite having no NHL experience. Prosvetov was 4-3-1 with a 3.16 goals-against average and .895 save percentage in 11 games (eight starts) for the Avalanche this season.
“He’s a more experienced guy and he played well for us at times when he was up here and since he’s gone down, he’s really played well for the Eagles,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said.
“They were playing a big hockey game (when Prosvetov made 28 saves in a 6-3 AHL win against Ontario on Sunday), and that’s part of it. He’s been their guy down there, they’re playing an important series, trying to get home ice for the (Calder Cup) playoffs, so we left him there. Now they’ve done that, so now we need a goalie up here, so we brought him up.”
2. Jets need to reset
Bowness said the Jets, with all the hype and whiteout furor, were “a little nervous” at the start of Game 1, which probably led to more defensive lapses than usual. He said they’re a calmer group heading into Game 2, and Winnipeg players said they’ll be back to their defense-first mentality Tuesday.
“It’s just executing what we want to do in all aspects of our game,” defenseman Dylan DeMelo said. “That wasn’t our top game for sure. There were a lot of things we can do better. It’s not like we have to reinvent the wheel or change things, it’s just get back to what we do.”
3. Getting to Hellebuyck
They weren’t able to win Game 1, but the Avalanche were happy to get six goals on 46 shots against Connor Hellebuyck on Sunday. Scoring that many gives them confidence against the Jets goalie entering Game 2, though they’d like to avoid another high-scoring game.
“I mean, our mentality is we’re not going to get more than two or three (goals). That’s how we’re trying to limit them,” Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon said. “He’s the best in the League, and we definitely don’t expect to get six (in a game) in this series. We’re just trying to do our best to get in front of him and hopefully get a few just to win; 2-1 would be nice.”
Avalanche projected lineup
Zach Parise -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Artturi Lehkonen -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Valeri Nichushkin
Miles Wood -- Ross Colton -- Joel Kiviranta
Andrew Cogliano -- Yakov Trenin -- Brandon Duhaime
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Sean Walker -- Josh Manson
Caleb Jones -- Jack Johnson
Alexandar Georgiev
Ivan Prosvetov
Scratched: Chris Wagner, Brad Hunt
Injured: Jonathan Drouin (lower body), Samuel Girard (upper body), Justus Annunen (illness)
Jets projected lineup
Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Gabriel Vilardi
Nikolaj Ehlers -- Sean Monahan -- Tyler Toffoli
Nino Niederreiter -- Adam Lowry -- Mason Appleton
David Gustafsson -- Vladislav Namestnikov -- Alex Iafallo
Josh Morrissey -- Dylan DeMelo
Brenden Dillon -- Neal Pionk
Logan Stanley -- Dylan Samberg
Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit
Scratched: Rasmus Kupari, Cole Perfetti, Nate Schmidt, Colin Miller, Collin Delia
Injured: Morgan Barron (lower body)
Status report
Georgiev is expected to start after allowing seven goals on 23 shots in a 7-6 loss in Game 1 on Sunday. ... Annunen, a goalie, did not skate Tuesday. ... Bednar would not provide an update on the status of Girard or any possibility the defenseman could play in Game 2. … The Jets will dress the same lineup they used in Game 1.
