The Colorado Eagles and Coachella Valley Firebirds bring the Pacific Division finals to Loveland tonight (8:05 ET, 
) as the puck drops on Game 3 at Blue Arena.
Trent Miner shut out the Firebirds over the first 101 minutes of the series, but Coachella Valley broke through in a big way with four third-period goals to take Game 2 by a 4-0 score on Friday night.
J.R. Avon (7-1-8) scored twice in Game 2, his sixth and seventh goals of the playoffs after a 10-goal regular season. Head coach Derek Laxdal made an in-game adjustment to move Avon onto a line with Logan Morrison and Jani Nyman.
“They responded,” Laxdal said. “Give our guys a lot of credit. That was an outstanding game. It was back and forth, just grinding. They (the Eagles) are a hell of a hockey club. They come at you, they’ve got a lot of skill. Our guys found a way to hang in there and find a win.”
“They’re a great hockey team,” Avon said. “It’s going to be a low scoring game so we’ve just got to wait for our chance and pounce on it.”
Nikke Kokko (6-4, 2.40, .911) made 33 saves to earn his second shutout of this postseason. Over his two seasons with the Firebirds, Kokko has more shutouts in 16 playoff appearances (3) than in 68 regular-season games (2).
Miner (6-2, 1.20, .948) finished with 21 stops in Game 2.
“Playoff hockey’s hard,” Laxdal said. “It’s 1-1. It’s a best-of-three, (now) we play three games in their building. Our goal is to go in there and try and battle for a win [in Game 3]. It’s a great building, the fans are loud… I know our guys are going to be fired up.”
Eleven of the 12 best-of-five series in the division semifinal and division final rounds of this year’s Calder Cup Playoffs have been tied at 1-1 after the first two games. Only the Central Division finals have been 2-0, with Chicago taking that lead over Grand Rapids with a 4-3 overtime win last night.
The Wolves rallied from a 3-1 deficit to pull out the victory, marking the sixth time this postseason that a team has won a game after trailing by at least two goals. It also happened twice on Thursday night, when Toronto erased a 2-0 deficit in Cleveland and Springfield roared back from 3-0 down in Wilkes-Barre.
And Chicago’s Game 2 win also improved road teams to 9-4 in OT games this postseason. Only Springfield (twice) and Henderson (twice) have managed to win in overtime on home ice.
Game 3 winners went on to win seven of the eight series last round.
