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After the Avalanche evened their first-round series with the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night, Colorado’s Alexandar Georgiev praised his teammates for the support they’ve shown him, with coach Jared Bednar also defending his goaltender.

Georgiev, who gave up seven goals on 16 shots in the Avs’ Game 1 loss on Sunday, responded by stopping 28 of the 30 shots he faced in his team’s 5-2 win at Canada Life Centre.

“They’ve shown so much support to me over the last couple days,” Georgiev said. “Very rough first game, obviously. I just felt so much trust in the room from everybody. I appreciate it so much. It helped me reset and I know that they got my back. I know I’ll help them out as well during these playoffs. It was huge from them. I appreciate it.”

Entering Game 1, the Avalanche were already facing questions about how they would fare against the Jets. They were 0-3 in the regular season against Winnipeg, with their most recent meeting on April 13 a 7-0 loss in which Georgiev allowed four goals on 15 shots. Watching Georgiev surrender seven goals on Sunday only led to more questions for Bednar and the Avalanche about their plans in net going forward.

Bednar elected to stick with Georgiev, and the decision paid off, with the coach describing his 38-win goaltender’s effort as “fantastic.”

“You can imagine coming in here not having a good night as a team, not having a good night on the defensive side, and if you give up seven as a goalie what type of things you’re reading online,” Bednar said. “What you’re hearing from everyone. Everyone goes immediately to doubt and criticism. To be able to put that aside and focus on his process … and go out and prove people wrong in Game 2?

“That’s a tough job to do because you are the last line for defense.”

Jets forward David Gustafsson gave his team a 1-0 lead in the first period before the Avs scored four of the game’s five second-period goals for a 4-2 advantage.

Some of Georgiev’s most important saves came in a third period that saw the Jets finish with a shot share of 73.1% possession. There was one save in which Jets forward Nino Niederreiter was trying to corral a bouncing puck while fending off defenseman Sean Walker before Georgiev was able to stop the puck.

His strongest save of the third came when the Jets were on a power play and a cross-ice pass found its way to an open Nikolaj Ehlers, who fired a point blank shot from the right faceoff circle that Georgiev stopped with 12:44 left in the period.

Valeri Nichushkin scored on an empty net late in the third for a 5-2 lead.

“I tried to imagine that feeling of winning the first game of the series for us and trust the game, enjoy the atmosphere and try to approach it as a new game, definitely after the last one,” Georgiev said.

Bednar said in his postgame comments that Georgiev “deserves all the credit” for reasons that he would go on to outline.

It began with Bednar saying that 50% of the questions he faced from reporters between Games 1 and 2 were about Georgiev. He said even with that attention, Georgiev ignored the discourse and didn’t let it serve as a distraction.

Bednar said while the Avs were better in Game 1, he felt they were not “that much better” in Game 2.

“But he was much better, and he gave us a chance to win, and we did win,” Bednar said. “Now, we gotta go repeat it. We still feel like whether it’s Georgie or our team, whatever, we’re going to push to try to be as close to perfect as possible without being uptight about it. … Our team is in full support of what he’s capable of doing and what we think he can do.”

The series, now tied at 1-1, heads to Denver where Game 3 will be played Friday at 8 p.m. local time.

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Betts (illness) out for Tokyo Series; lost 15 pounds

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Betts (illness) out for Tokyo Series; lost 15 pounds

TOKYO — Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts will not play in the two-game Tokyo Series against the Chicago Cubs because of an illness that has lingered for the past week.

Manager Dave Roberts said Monday that Betts is starting to feel better but has lost nearly 15 pounds and is still trying to get rehydrated and gain strength. Roberts added that the eight-time All-Star might fly back to the United States before the team in an effort to rest and prepare for the domestic opener on March 27.

The Cubs and Dodgers open the Major League Baseball season on Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome. A second game is on Wednesday.

“He’s not going to play in these two games,” Roberts said. “When you’re dehydrated, that’s what opens a person up to soft tissue injuries. We’re very mindful of that.”

Roberts said Miguel Rojas will start at shortstop in Betts’ place for the two games at the Tokyo Dome.

Betts started suffering from flu-like symptoms at the team’s spring training home in Arizona the day before the team left for Japan. He still made the long plane trip but hasn’t recovered as quickly as hoped.

Roberts said if the team had known the illness would linger this long, Betts wouldn’t have traveled. Betts tried to go through a workout on Sunday but became tired quickly.

Betts is making the full-time transition to shortstop this season after playing most of his career in right field and second base. The 2018 AL MVP hit .289 with 19 homers and 75 RBIs last season, helping the Dodgers win the World Series.

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Berry gets first career Cup Series win at Vegas

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Berry gets first career Cup Series win at Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Josh Berry raced to the first Cup Series victory of his career, taking NASCAR’s oldest team to victory lane Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Berry, in his first season driving the famed No. 21 for Wood Brothers Racing, had the first victory for a Ford team through five races this season. William Byron opened the year with a Daytona 500 victory in a Chevrolet and Christopher Bell in a Toyota won the next three races.

Berry, meanwhile, had to run down Daniel Suarez following a restart with 19 laps remaining to take control. Although Harrison Burton won at Daytona last summer for the Wood Brothers, Berry’s victory is the first not at a superspeedway since Ryan Blaney won for the team in 2017 at Pocono.

It was the 101st victory for the organization spanning 20 drivers.

Suarez in a Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing finished second, followed by Ryan Preece in a Ford for RFK Racing. Byron was fourth for Hendrick Motorsports, followed by Ross Chastain of Trackhouse, Austin Cindric of Team Penske and Alex Bowman of Hendrick.

AJ Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing was eighth, and Hendrick drivers Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10.

Joey Logano had late control of the race until Las Vegas native Noah Gragson hit the wall with 25 laps remaining to bring out the ninth caution of the race. Berry was in second when the caution came out and second behind Suarez on the restart.

Berry won in his 53rd Cup race and just his fifth race with the Wood Brothers, the team that signed him when Stewart-Haas Racing shuttered at the end of last season.

The 34-year-old Tennessee driver was a 40-1 underdog to win Sunday’s race and his win put the Wood Brothers back into the playoffs for a second consecutive season.

Bell to the back

Bell came to Las Vegas on a three-race winning streak with an opportunity to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup races.

But his chance to extend his streak was stymied when Joe Gibbs Racing had to change the throttle body on the No. 20 Toyota after Bell qualified 13th and the penalty dropped him to the back of the field for the start of the race.

He never recovered in what was an overall subpar day for the four-driver JGR contingent.

Bell, who complained about the handling of his car most of the race, finished a team-high 12th. Only eight drivers have won four straight Cup races in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972.

Chase Briscoe was 17th and Ty Gibbs, who rolled a sprint car Saturday night at the dirt track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finished 22nd. Denny Hamlin, winner of more than $200,000 over two nights of playing slots in the Las Vegas casino, couldn’t convert his luck to the track and finished 25th.

Up Next

The Cup Series races next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a track that had been in the playoff rotation the last three years but has now been moved to a spring race. Tyler Reddick won last October and Bell won in 2023.

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Bell to start at rear of field after prerace penalty

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Bell to start at rear of field after prerace penalty

LAS VEGAS — Christopher Bell will have to start from the back of the field in his attempt to win a fourth consecutive Cup Series race after NASCAR penalized the Joe Gibbs Racing driver on Sunday for making changes to his Toyota.

Bell had been set to start 13th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he is trying to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup races. But JGR changed the throttle body on the No. 20 Toyota after qualifying, resulting in Bell forfeiting his starting spot.

Bell came to Las Vegas coming off victories at Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas in Texas and Phoenix. Only eight drivers have won four straight Cup races in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972. Among those who have accomplished the feat, seven are in NASCAR’s Hall of Fame and six are Cup Series champions.

The drivers who have won four consecutive races in the modern era are Cale Yarborough in 1976, Darrell Waltrip in 1981, Dale Earnhardt in 1987, Harry Gant in 1981, Bill Elliott in 1992, Mark Martin in 1993, Jeff Gordon in 1998 and Johnson 18 years ago.

Bell’s three straight wins are the Cup Series’ longest streak since Kyle Larson won three in a row twice in 2021, and Bell is the first to do it in NASCAR’s Next Gen car, which was introduced in 2022.

His three wins this year tie his career-high victory tallies set in 2022 and matched in 2024. At Las Vegas, Bell has five career top-10 finishes in 10 starts and three poles. He was the runner-up in Vegas’ past two fall races.

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