Eagles Takeaways: Lackluster Colorado can’t pull out overtime win

Matthew Phillips and Jack Ahcan both had multi-point nights in an overtime loss to the Abbotsford Canucks.

Loveland, CO — The Colorado Eagles returned home following the All-Star break after winning three out of five games on the road. Goaltender Adam Scheel had his first career back-to-back AHL shutout performances, making 55 saves. The Eagles started the weekend just three points out of second place in the Pacific Division with four games in hand. Colorado started a homestand against their division rival, the Abbotsford Canucks (VAN). So far this season, the Eagles are 1–2–0–1 against the Canucks. The Eagles took yet another game to overtime, but would fall in the last minute 5–4. Here are the takeaways from the overtime loss to the Canucks.

Takeaways

During the first two periods, Colorado had some trouble waking up and getting their legs going. The puck stayed in the Eagles’ zone for most of the two periods. Colorado was having issues being physical on the puck during the opening frame as well. The Canucks had no problem using their body to push other Eagles players off of the puck, creating turnovers in their own zone.

“I didn’t see us skate in the first 40 minutes,” said head coach Aaron Schneekloth. “It looked like in the third when we were a little more connected and had a little bit more close support. We could make some plays and get in on the forecheck and recover some pucks. That’s when we had our success. The first 40 minutes, obviously, you got to give a ton of credit to how Abbotsford played. They took a lot of ice away from us and put us under a lot of pressure, and we didn’t handle it well.”

Colorado struggled tonight to push the Canucks out to the perimeter. Normally, the Eagles’ defense is very good at forcing the offense out past the dots, but that was not the case tonight. The Canucks could step inside the dots and shoot at will. A play in the second period where Wyatt Aamodt normally steps into the player, he glided away. This gave Cooper Walker a chance to get the angle and take a better shot.

Jack Ahcan has been one of the top defensemen on the team for the Eagles. He is the only player on the roster to have played every single game so far this year.

“You got to be ready to go whenever you get the chance,” Ahcan said. “It’s fun. I love playing the game. It’s fun to get up and play every night. And just happens to be that way. I don’t know. I didn’t even know that. I guess it’s a good step. But no, I just like to prove myself and play for my teammates every night.”

Ahcan is a lot more than a body to fill the roster. He has 22 points (two of them tonight) and can play in every situation. He leads the power play and loves to be on the penalty kill. That is part of the reason Ahcan has the one of the lowest amount of penalty minutes on the team with 16 minutes in 43 games. He is a player that is always working to improve and plays bigger than his small stature.

Upcoming

The Eagles will be right back at it tomorrow night against the Abbotsford Canucks in Loveland at Blue Arena at 7 p.m. MT.