Time: 10:00 PM EDT Venue: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colo., 80204 / The NHL playoffs have been a study in reverse logic. No division winners made it out of the first round and all four wild card teams are either tied or leading their second-round series entering Monday. The Colorado Avalanche are one of those teams, and a big reason they are tied with the San Jose Sharks in their Western Conference second-round series is a key adjustment by coach Jared Bednar. Bednar reunited his top forwards and sparked a 4-3 win in San Jose in Game 2 on Sunday night, giving Colorado home-ice advantage as the series shifts to Denver for Game 3 on Tuesday night. The Avalanche's turnaround Sunday started when Bednar put Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog on the same line. They were the team's top three scorers all season and arguably the best line in the NHL at times. Bednar split them up during the regular season to inject offense throughout the lines but when Colorado needed a lift Sunday he put the band back together. Landeskog scored the tying goal, MacKinnon scored the winning goal into an empty net and the trio combined for five points." In the first period, we didn't get much going so maybe he wanted to switch a little bit and see if it brings a spark," Rantanen said after the game. "We got an early goal from Landy and there was no changing back." It produced Colorado's first win against the Sharks this season and ended a 10-game losing streak in second-round games dating back to 2004. The Avalanche, like they did in the first round against Calgary, lost Game 1 and rallied to win Game 2. The Sharks, however, have recent experience in overcoming adversity. They've played the first two games of the series without captain Joe Pavelski, who suffered a concussion in the first round, and they rallied from down 3-1 in the series -- and 3-0 in Game 7 -- to beat Vegas. They're confident and will make adjustments heading to Denver." Two good teams going," Sharks defenseman Brent Burns, who scored two goals in the last two minutes Sunday, said after the loss. "Next game, we've got to be better. We know they're going to be flying back home. We've just got to get the win." Pavelski suffered his concussion in Game 7 against the Golden Knights and his status for Game 3 has not been announced. San Jose has also played the first two games without right winger Joonas Donskoi, who suffered an undisclosed injury in Game 6 against Vegas. The Sharks still have plenty of talent up front and maybe the best defenseman left in the postseason in Burns. He has been a tough matchup for Colorado. He had three points Sunday and leads San Jose with 11 points this postseason. He also is disrupting Colorado's offense when he's on the ice." He's going to make an impact," Bednar said after Sunday's game. "We're trying to minimize that impact on him on a nightly basis." --Field Level Media
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