Ehlers helps Jets even Cup Qualifier with Game 2 victory against Flames

Nikolaj Ehlers scored his first NHL postseason goal, and the Winnipeg Jets evened their Stanley Cup Qualifier series against the Calgary Flames with a 3-2 win in Game 2 at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Monday.

Winnipeg played without forwards Mark Scheifele, Patrik Laine and Mason Appleton, who were injured in Game 1 on Saturday.

"Our season was on the line, so I guess that makes it special," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. "It's one win in a long journey. I don't know how many wins we had this year, but a good majority of them were like that, where we had some adversity and things we had to overcome from guys getting hurt, guys quitting, whatever it might be. I think we made the joke [on Sunday] that things are finally back to normal, so let's get to work."

WATCH: [All Jets vs. Flames highlights]

Game 3 of the best-of-5 series is in Edmonton, the hub city for the Western Conference, on Tuesday (6:45 p.m. ET; NHLN, NHL.TV, SN). The series winner will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Cam Talbot made 23 saves for the Flames, the No. 8 seed.

"It definitely would have been huge to go up 2-0 in the series but we're still completely confident in our group," Calgary forward Sam Bennett said. "We've played two really hard games and we're still in a good position here. We've really just got to reset and worry about [the game Tuesday] because it's going to be a huge one."

Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves for Winnipeg, the No. 9 seed. Hellebuyck led the NHL with 18 wins in the next game following a loss during the regular season (18-7-1).

"We go into the game confident knowing that on any given night he's going to give us a real good chance to win," Jets forward Adam Lowry said." Nothing seems to get to him, nothing seems to rattle him. We don't always make the job easy on him, but he always seems to be there when we need him the most. Tonight, he was terrific."

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Ehlers, playing his 23rd NHL postseason game, gave the Jets a 3-2 lead at 10:24 of the third period when he deflected Neal Pionk's point shot on the power play. It was Winnipeg's first power-play goal in 10 attempts in the series.

"It felt great," Ehlers said. "You want to score goals. You want to be a difference-maker. When you're not able to score goals, you've got to help the team in other ways. I think I tried to do that as good as I could and not think about it too much that it's been a while since I've scored a goal (March 9). Of course, it felt nice to finally get it. Hopefully they keep coming now."

The goal came after the Flames rallied from trailing by two goals in the second period.

"What are we going to do with a two-goal lead?" Wheeler said. "That's too easy for us. It was that type of game. We were invested in whatever it would take to get the win tonight. Losing a two-goal lead, it didn't feel like we had any letdown. There was no disappointment. Our mindset was to find a way to get that next goal. If it took overtime, if it took all day, we were going to find a way today."

Calgary made it 2-1 at 11:29 when Ehlers turned over the puck in his own zone, and Lindholm scored short side. Bennett tied it 2-2 at 17:29 when his wraparound deflected off the skate of Jets defenseman Nathan Beaulieu.

"Overall, I think they battled a little harder than us and a little better, and our power play didn't give us any momentum, or anything like that," Lindholm said. "I think we did a good job coming back from 2-0, but at the end, I think we've got to be better than this."

Jansen Harkins, who was scratched in Game 1 after playing 29 games this season, gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 7:18 of the first period with a shot over Talbot's left shoulder.

"You need guys to step up," Wheeler said. "It's not a great situation when you're filling in for Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine. [Harkins] is a guy that brings a lot of speed to our lineup and he's demonstrated the ability to make some plays with the puck on his stick. It was a huge goal for a young kid (23) to gain some confidence in this type of situation and for our team to get a boost to pick ourselves off the floor from last game."

Lowry extended the lead to 2-0 at 5:43 of the second, 40 seconds after the Jets were unsuccessful on a two-minute 5-on-3 power play.

"We're comfortable facing this adversity," Lowry said. "Pretty much throughout the year we had key guys out of the lineup at different points of time. That's a testament to our team's depth and guys coming in and taking advantage of their opportunity."