The Colorado Eagles and Coachella Valley Firebirds take the Pacific Division finals to Loveland tonight (8:05 ET, 
) when the puck dropped in Game 3 of the Blue Arena.
Trent Miner The Firebirds were shut out for the first 101 minutes of the series, but Coachella Valley surged ahead with four third-period goals to win Game 2 4-0 on Friday night.
JR Avon (7-1-8) scored twice in Game 2, his sixth and seventh goals of the playoffs after scoring 10 in the regular season. head coach Derek Laxdale Made an in-game adjustment to move Avon to a lane Logan Morrison and Jani Niemann.
“They responded,” Laxdale said. “A lot of credit to our guys. It was a great game. It was back and forth, very grinding. They (the Eagles) are a hell of a hockey club. They come at you and they have a lot of skills. Our guys found a way to hang in there and win.”
“They’re a great hockey team,” Evan said. “It’s going to be a low-scoring game, so we have to wait for our opportunity and take it.”
Riko Koko (6-4, 2.40, .911) made 33 saves and earned his second shutout of this postseason. In two seasons with the Firebirds, Koko was shut out more times in 16 playoff games (three) than in 68 regular season games (two).
Miner (6-2, 1.20, .948) had 21 stops in Game 2.
“Playoff hockey is hard,” Larksdale said. “The score is 1-1. It’s best of three, (now) we’ve played three games in their building. Our goal is to get in there and try to 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 this year’s Calder Cup playoff conference semifinals and conference finals have been tied 1-1 after the first two games. Only the Central Division finals record is 2-0, with Chicago beating Grand Rapids 4-3 in overtime last night.
The Wolves fought back from 3-1 down to win, marking the sixth time in the playoffs this season that a team has won a game while trailing by at least two goals. It happened twice Thursday night, too, when Toronto was erased from a 2-0 deficit in Cleveland and Springfield came back from a 3-0 deficit in Wilkes-Barre.
Chicago’s Game 2 victory also improved the road team’s record in overtime playoff games to 9-4. Only Springfield (twice) and Henderson (twice) have won in overtime at home.
The winner of Game 3 had won seven of the eight-game series in the previous round.
