The Colorado Avalanche came from two goals down to beat the Seattle Kraken 3-2 in Game 2 and crucially level their series, rediscovering their "swagger" along the way.
The defending Stanley Cup champions had been upset in the series opener and looked set to remarkably fall two games behind when the Kraken were 2-0 up at the end of the first period on Thursday.
Seattle were on course to become the first team in NHL history to win their first two playoff games while playing both on the road.
However, quickfire goals from Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin in the second period levelled the game, before Devon Toews came up with the winner for the Avs.
Colorado have only won one of their past nine playoff series after losing the first game, but they at least head to Seattle all square and with some confidence restored.
"We played tight [in the first period]," said coach Jared Bednar. "No one wanted the puck, no one wanted to skate with it in the pocket.
"That was a message [in the first intermission] – that we had to build our swagger back, shift-by-shift, that we have to get more assertive and more engaged competitively.
"I think [Seattle] held the competitive advantage for the first four periods of the series, and I felt like we had another level that we needed to get to that they were already at.
"In the second period, you could see we started to free ourselves up a little bit. Now, you get guys fighting through checks and being more assertive, more engaged.
"We really started to see what our team could do once we scored the first goal. Then we played, and it was still hard-fought for the next 40 minutes."
"Swagger" was the word defenseman Bowen Byram used, too.
"That's something that we're trying to build towards," he said. "We finally broke through there and got some confidence and started playing with some swagger.
"When we're playing like that, I don't know many teams that can beat us. We just had to go out there and prove it, and we did that.
"Now, it's just about putting our best foot forward on Saturday night [in Game 3]."
The Tampa Bay Lightning, who lost to the Avs last year in their third straight Stanley Cup Finals, were pegged back on Thursday as they lost 7-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The series between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Winnipeg Jets is also tied after a 5-2 home win for VGK.
However, the New York Rangers have control of their matchup against the New Jersey Devils after taking both games on the road, the latest a come-from-behind 5-1 win.