The Avalanche return to the Ball Arena after tying the series at one game apiece in Tuesday night’s contest against the Jets. Colorado will return to its home arena for its 329th playoff game. The Game 3 clash between Colorado and Winnipeg is set for 8:20 p.m. puck and will be available to watch on TNT nationally and Altitude TV locally.
FIRST ROUND SCHEDULE AND RESULTS AGAINST. WPG
- April 21 at Winnipeg – First leg; Score: WPG: 7 COL: 6
- April 23 at Winnipeg – Game Two; Score: COL: 5 WPG: 2
- April 26 vs. Winnipeg – Game 3, 8:00 PM MT / 9:00 PM CT (ALT, TNT, TruTV, Max)
- April 28 vs Winnipeg – Game Four, 12:30pm MT / 1:30pm CT (ALT, TNT, TruTV, Max)
- April 30 in Winnipeg – Game Five, TBD
- May 2 vs. Winnipeg – Game 6TBD
May 4 at Winnipeg – Game Seven*, TBD
*If necessary
REGULAR SEASON RESULTS VS. WPG
- Dec. 7 vs. Winnipeg (L, 4-2)
- December 16 in Winnipeg (L, 6-2)
- April 13 vs. Winnipeg (L, 7-0)
TAKING GAME TWO
Colorado bounced back from the first game loss with a 5-2 win to even the series. The Jets scored early in the first period when David Gustafsson scored his first career playoff goal. Miles Wood tied the game early in the center frame on a quick wrist shot to the face. Winnipeg took the lead again when Mark Scheifele redirected a pass into the goal. The Avalanche would get assists from Artturi Lehkonen and Zach Parise 2:57 apart to grab a 3-2 lead. With seven seconds left in the middle of the frame, Josh Manson rushed in on a breakaway and slid the puck through Connor Hellebuyck’s fifth hole to give the Avs a two-goal lead heading into the locker room. Valery Nichushkin sealed the win for the Avalanche with an empty net goal with less than a minute to play.
STATISTICS SHEET STARS
Nathan McKinnon recorded his 58th career assist of the postseason, passing Peter Stastny for sole possession of the fourth-most assists in Avalanche/Nordiques history.
Cale Makar recorded two assists and continues to lead all Avalanche skaters in points this postseason (1g/4a). Among NHL defensemen, Makar is tied for first in points, tied for first in goals and tied for first in power play goals. Tuesday night marked Makar’s 16th playoff game for seventh among all Avalanche/Nordiques skaters. He is the first defenseman in franchise history to start a playoff season with back-to-back multi-point games.
Nichushkin scored the first goal of the postseason for the Avalanche. He has 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 recorded 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.
Paris scored his first goal in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, his first 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 record a game-winning goal behind Ray Burke (40 years, 154 days) in Game 3 of the 2001 Stanley Cup Final. (40 years, 30 days) on April 17, 2019 was the last time an NHL player 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 playoff games with the club and the first since Gabriel Landeskog in 2013-14.
Lehkonen recorded 1g/1a and collected four points (2g/2a) through the first two games of the postseason. The Avs posted a 7-1 record in the playoffs when Lehkonen registered a multi-hit shutout.
TEAM SUCCESS
The Avalanche scored 11 goals in the first two games. The last time the Avs scored more than 11 goals in the first two contests of a series was when they scored 11 goals against Tampa Bay (June 15 and 18, 2022).
It also marked the most goals scored in the first two games of a first-round series in franchise history.
En route to tying the series, the Avs have registered 78 shots on net through the first two games. That’s tied for the third-most playoff streak in franchise history.
PLAYOFF PERFORMERS
3
Rantanen is tied for sixth among NHL skaters with three helpers this playoff campaign.
11
Lehkonen has 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.
A QUOTE THAT LEAVES BEHIND
“A dedicated game from us for 60 minutes. Offensively, really strong and through the neutral zone, keeping them outside and then in the d-zone, trying to limit the Class A looks they were getting and letting Georgi (Colorado G Alexander Georgiev) see everything. For the most part, it was a really good game from us.
– Colorado D Devon Toews on the team’s second-game effort
