Eagles Recap: Colorado continues hot streak at home with win

The Eagles win their third game in a row at home.

The Colorado Eagles continue their home stand tonight after a sweep of the Texas Stars (DAL) over the weekend. Now they take on their division rival the Coachella Valley Firebirds (SEA) for a two-game set. It is still early in their 72-game season, but two wins could jump the Eagles into second place in the Pacific Division. Scoring from all around the team has been helping Colorado with players like Jean-Luc Foudy and Matt Stienburg out because of injuries.

First Period

The Eagles started out applying some powerful pressure in the Firebirds’ end. Colorado hardly allowed the puck out of the Coachella Valley zone. For nearly eight minutes, the Eagles kept running the puck in and crashing down the slot. The third time that the Firebirds reached Colorado’s end, Brandon Biro hacked the stick out of Jayson Megna’s hands. Colorado would head to the power play and lay it on thick.

The Eagles snapped the puck around the perimeter for a full minute, waiting for a window to open up. Jacob MacDonald threw it on net and a scramble ensued. Jere Innala tossed it across the crease over to Oskar Olausson, who whiffed on the shot. Matthew Phillips sent it back to Olausson, and he stuffed it home for the 1–0 lead.

Just over a minute later, the Eagles continued with their momentum from the power play goal. Colorado carried the puck into the Firebirds’ zone and Neil Shea threw a backhand shot on net. Jason Polin was standing to the left of the crease for the rebound and snapped a shot off right away. Mark Senden picked up the second rebound and set the lead up for the Eagles, 2–0.

Second Period

Colorado picked up right where they left off in the first with the pressure. With 11:58 left in the second period, the Firebird tried to clear the puck unsuccessfully. Calle Rosén caught it on the left point and sauced it over to Jack Ahcan on the right point. Ahcan wristed a missile toward the net to set up a juicy rebound in the slot for Jake Wise. He picked up the rebound and easily tossed in his second goal since joining the Eagles on a PTO last week.

As the Eagles were on their third power play of the night, they rushed into the Firebirds’ zone. With just over a minute left in the period, Polin sauced a pass to Senden to help with the entry. From the right point, Senden wristed the shot, and another rebound sat in the slot for Rosén to snap into the net and make it 4–0.

Third Period

The Eagles went to shut down hockey in the third period and had a huge lead. With 12:37 left in the game, Megna lined up for a faceoff in Coachella Valley’s zone. Megna pushed the puck over to Innala on the wing, who pushed it back to Rosén on the blue line. Rosén snapped towards the net but hit the side of the cage. Megna hit the puck up off the goaltender and into the net for the 5–0 lead.

Takeaways

The Eagles played one of the most complete games that I have seen them play in quite some time. Their East-West game was solid, as they never let up on the forecheck or the backcheck. Their constant pressure kept the Firebirds on their toes and threw them off of their game. Normally, it would have been Coachella Valley applying the pressure on the offensive side of the puck, but that was not the case tonight. Colorado has definitely learned how to use their speed to their advantage and should continue with this in the future.

Upcoming

The Eagles will take on the Coachella Valley Firebirds for game two on Wednesday, November 6 at 7 p.m. MT in Loveland, CO.