Recap: Eagles fail to show any drive, unable to beat Ontario

The Colorado Eagles fall 5-3 in the first of a two-game set against the Ontario Reign.

Loveland, CO — The Colorado Eagles came home after a disappointing loss to the San Jose Barracuda (SJS) to take on another division rival in the Ontario Reign (LAK). The Eagles continue to hold on to third place in the division, but will have to withstand some key injuries. Ondrej Pavel and Jason Polin are now both out with lower body-injuries and are key parts to both ends of the ice for the Eagles. Despite reinforcements returning from the Colorado Avalanche, it was a challenge to defeat the Reign.

First Period

Both the Reign and the Eagles came hot out of the gate, firing shots on the net at both ends of the ice. For the first 12 minutes, the game was a battle for possession. Both Ontario and Colorado were just trying to hold on to the puck and crash the net. With about 13 minutes left in the frame, Keaton Middleton ran down the right side and threw a backhand pass to Neil Shea. He roofed it for a score, but the refs never called the play dead. It would take Ontario scoring a goal of their own a minute later and an official review for the first goal to be called good for the Eagles. Here, the goal scored by Ontario would come off of the board and the game started back again from the faceoff.

However, it would take the Reign only 30 seconds to respond after having their goal taken away. They worked the puck down into the Eagles zone and passed around the edge of the zone. Samuel Fagemo stood uncontested at the half boards during their power play, snapping a pass up to the point for Reilly Walsh. He walked the line and wristed a shot from the top of the slot to tie the game at one goal each.

Second Period

In a period that was highlighted by five penalties but with no power play goals scored but there was a lot of action on both ends of the ice. The Eagles would strike first in the period, with 18:20 remaining in the frame. Wyatt Aamodt carried the puck through the middle of the ice and dumped it into the Reign zone. Matthew Phillips retrieved the puck on the far half boards and kicked out to Chris Wagner. The veteran tossed a shot on the net and worked its way through at the shock of goaltender Pheonix Copley for the 2–1 Eagles lead.

Ontario started pushing the play late in the period with both teams at even strength. Jacob Doty fought for the puck in the corner and centered it with 1:19 remaining in the period. Joe Hicketts went down to one knee for the slap shot and completely whiffed the shot, letting it roll through to the left point. Kaleb Lawrence gathered the loose puck and slapped the puck hard and it dribbled through goaltender Kevin Mandolese’s five-hole to tie the game at two.

Third Period

The last period did not go the way the Eagles wanted it to at all. With 14:48 left in the period, Angus Booth fought away from two Eagles in the corner and ran away with the puck. Booth whipped a shot on Mandolese that he stopped initially, but Tyler Madden followed the shot down the right side and finished the job to make it 3–2.

“It’s kind of one of those things that you get hit and you kind of scrum it up with the guy,” said Philips. “I mean, that happens. I’m not gonna blame the game on that. Yeah, there are a lot of other reasons why we lost tonight.”

It did not get any better after that. While Colorado was on the power play, they were passing the puck to find an opening in the defense. A weird bounce off a stick kicked up the puck into the air after Jeff Malott hit it and Glenn Gawdin saw nothing but open ice in front of him. He would score uncontested and put the Ontario lead up to two goals with the score at 4–2.

The Eagles made a little of a push back with 7:02 left in regulation. Neil Shea had to take a faceoff in the Ontario zone and won it. He pushed back to Jack Ahcan at the point and setup Jacob MacDonald for a perfect one timer from the blue line. Unfortunately it would not be enough as the Reign scored with 30 seconds left on an empty net to secure the 5–3 Ontario win.

Takeaways

Colorado did not play with any finish to their game. They gave up too easily on a lot of offensive opportunities and coverage. Sometimes this led to breakaways and left Mandolese out to dry. The goaltender had to stop five or six breakaways by himself, which he couldn’t do. The Eagles will need to tighten the ship up and bring in their veterans if they can, to help with the rookies and their coverage.

Upcoming

The Eagles will be right back at it on Saturday night against the Ontario Reign at 7 p.m. MT at Blue Arena in Loveland, Colorado.