MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Lynx were backed into a corner after a Game 1 loss on their home floor to the star-studded Los Angeles Sparks.No time to panic for this battle-tested group. The defending champions know just how to respond.Maya Moore had 21 points and 12 rebounds to help the Lynx even the WNBA Finals at one game apiece with a 79-60 victory in Game 2 on Tuesday night.This team bounces back well. We cant stay down for too long, Moore said. And Im a part of that. I wanted to bring that energy and thats what I took on myself personally today.Sylvia Fowles had 13 points and 15 boards and Minnesota held Los Angeles to 32.9 percent shooting to bounce back from a last-second loss in Game 1. Seimone Augustus scored 14 points and Minnesota dominated on the glass, 46-32, to pull away.We played like this game was more important to them than it was to us and thats unfortunate, Sparks coach Brian Agler said. You dont get these opportunities often, so you have to play like you might not get this game back.Nneka Ogwumike had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Sparks, who head back home for the next two games in the best-of-five series. Candace Parker was quiet with six points on 3-for-12 shooting and the Sparks missed 17 of 20 3-pointers.The Lynx are trying to become the first back-to-back champions in the league since the Sparks repeated in 2002. A win in this series would also give Minnesota its fourth championship, which would tie the Lynx with the Houston Comets for most in league history.Last year the Lynx lost Game 1 at Target Center to the Indiana Fever, but rebounded to win that series in five games. But they know they face an even more capable challenger this year.We know what we needed to do, Augustus said. We watched the entire footage from Game 1 and saw where we made mistakes.Neither team led by more than five points during an air-tight Game 1 that Los Angeles won at the buzzer on a jumper from Alana Beard. The first 16 minutes of Game 2 were just as competitive, but Moore and the Lynx seized control in the final four minutes of the second quarter.After going scoreless in the first half of Game 1, Moore got rolling during a 17-3 blitz to close the period. She hit two 3s and a layup, then picked Parkers pocket and heaved a three-quarter length outlet to a streaking Lindsay Whalen for a three-point play and a 37-25 lead.Moore had 12 points in the first half and the Lynx took much better care of the ball after coughing it up 11 times in the first half of Game 1.The Sparks made things interesting with a 14-0 run in the third quarter that made the score 44-41, but Augustus and Moore took over in the fourth to turn back the charge.I think it had a lot to do with our effort, Ogwumike said. Not to say that we dont want it. But you get tired and muddled and youre not focusing on what youre doing, a lot of times confusion can seep in. And I think thats what happened.MVP DISAPPEARS: Ogwumike, the league MVP, scored just two points in the final period, and took just six shots in the entire game. Its a hard job. (Our post players) made it look easy, but its not, Moore said. Shes such an explosive player.REBOUNDING ADVANTAGE: The Lynx parlayed their edge on the glass into a 17-7 advantage in second-chance points. They shot a pedestrian 45 percent from the field, but had 13 offensive rebounds to create more opportunities. When the ball went up on the glass and a shot was taken on either end, they outworked us, Agler said.QUOTABLE: Now I know how Shaq felt in the NBA, -- Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve on the physical play on Fowles in the paint.RECORD RATING: The WNBA instituted a new playoff format this year that seeded teams based on record, not geography. It resulted in the two best teams during the regular season meeting in the finals despite both playing in the Western Conference. Game 1 drew an average audience of 597,000, the most-watched Game 1 ever on ABC, the network announced on Tuesday. It peaked with 693,000 viewers and was the most-watched Game 1 since 1998 broadcast across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.UP NEXT: Game 3 is Friday in Los Angeles. Cheap Ultra Boost NZ Free Shipping . Andreas Johnson had a goal and two assists while Jacob de la Rose also scored for Sweden (2-0-0). Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opened the scoring for Finland just 41 seconds into the game, but the hosts quickly regained their composure and tied the score less than four minutes later on Wennbergs first of the game. Cheap Shoes NZ Online . But now that hes in the NHL, the Calgary Flames centre showed big improvement in that department by scoring the winner in the eighth round of a 5-4 shootout victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. http://www.wholesaleultraboostnz.com/ . Sgt. Eric ONeal says most of the arrests at Monday nights game were for public drunkenness, though one person was taken into custody on suspicion of trying to steal a seat from the stadium. Wholesale Ultra Boost NZ For Sale . Both players have lower body injuries that will keep them out of the lineup until at least January 31, which is the first game they can be activated from IR. Cheap Ultra Boost NZ .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. DENVER -- Jared Bednar never got a shot in the NHL as a player but hes getting one now as a coach.The Avalanche on Wednesday formally introduced Bednar, who was hired two weeks ago to lead Colorado after spending years in the minor leagues as a player and as a coach.I havent been in a rush to get to this point in my career, Bednar said. I was hopeful this opportunity would come. I hadnt stopped believing in that.Bednar succeeds Patrick Roy, who abruptly resigned as head coach and vice president of hockey operations on Aug. 11. With Roys departure coming six weeks before the start of training camp, the team had to move quickly to find a replacement.We knew we didnt have the luxury of interviewing 20 candidates, but we tried to put a good group of candidates together, said Joe Sakic, the teams executive vice president and general manager. Usually you have one or two interviews after, but we didnt have that luxury.Without the benefit of time, Sakic sought input from around the league and became convinced Bednar was the best fit for Colorados young core.There were a lot of phone calls to different people that know him and coached against him, Sakic said. The message was consistent.The 44-year-old Bednars path to the Avalanche began with an unspectacular minor league playing career. He scored 61 goals in 434 games for two different teams in the ECHL, had one goal in 74 AHL games and three more goals in 74 games in the International Hockey League.He never got an NHL call-up.Probably didnt come very close, Bednar said. I was just kind of a bubble player, a role player, but I was never really consideredd a prospect.dddddddddddd. Its disappointing because you work your whole life to be a player in the NHL.He spent his last two years with the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL and found a second hockey life there at the end of his playing days.I started coaching and realized how much I loved it, he said. Ive been a more dedicated coach than I was a player.He began as an assistant with the Stingrays in 2002 and became the clubs head coach in 2007. He led the Stingrays to the conference finals in his first year, and they won the Kelly Cup in his second year.He jumped to the AHL in 2011 with Peoria, where he spent two years. He took over the Columbus Blue Jackets affiliate in Springfield in 2014 and guided the Lake Erie Monsters to a Calder Cup title this year.His success in the minors helped him land the job with the Avalanche.I put value in winning a championship, Sakic said. Its hard to do that in any league.Things have moved fast for Bednar over the past two weeks. His wife, Susan, and their children stayed in Cleveland while he hopped into his truck for the move to Denver.I drove because I had some stuff I wanted to bring and it gave me some time to think, he said.His biggest realization? That finally reaching the NHL is not the end of his journey.Being the coach of the Avalanche isnt the be-all, end-all for me, its the success I want our team to have, he said. Getting here is certainly achieving something but its what you do when youre here thats more important. ' ' '