Recap: Eagles gain first victory on the road

The Colorado Eagles won their first game of the year on the road and jump to second place in the Pacific Division.

The Colorado Eagles began a two-game road trip on Saturday night against their division rival, the San Jose Barracuda (SJS). This will be the first of eight times that they will see each other this season, four at home, and four in San Jose.

San Jose is the second highest scoring team in the AHL averaging 4.22 goals per game to the Eagles 3.2 goals per game. So it will probably be a high-scoring affair. They will probably face Yaroslav Askarov in net, who shut them out twice in Milwaukee (NSH) last season.

First Period

The Eagles tried to start the period with a lot of pressure in the Barracuda zone but struggled at first. Colorado really did not find their legs until about seven minutes into the period. San Jose had been doing a great job of shutting down the neutral zone. The Eagles probed for a weak spot. It would take a stretch pass from the corner from Calle Rosén up to Jere Innala on the far blue line as the rest of the forwards rushed into the zone. Jayson Megna tipped the loose puck over to Matthew Phillips and he finished the job for the 1–0.

It would not take long for the Barracuda to strike back. Ondrej Pavel, one of the Eagles’ best penalty killers, would head to the box for roughing. San Jose took advantage and circled the puck around the zone for nearly a minute. Andrew Poturalski took a pass from Danil Gushchin and whipped it from the top of the right face-off circle. Eagles’ goaltender Kevin Mandolese could not get his right leg down quick enough and the puck squeaked through to tie it up and one.

Second Period

The middle frame became a shooting range for both teams with 23 shots on the net in the period. Three penalties in the period would help with the shot totals, but no goals from either team. Mandolese and Barracuda goaltender Askarov were at the top of their game. Both stopped odd man rushes and looked comfortable in their creases. Jean-Luc Foudy, who has missed the last nine games because of injury, tried a wrap-around on Askarov but he shut down the post. The period would end with no goals scored and remain in a 1–1 tie.

Third Period

The Barracuda came out with all cylinders firing as they threw 10 shots on the Eagles’ net in the first half of the third period. With 11:01 left in the third, Chase Bradley lost control of the puck trying to gain entry into the Barracuda zone. Poturalski picked the puck up and threw a long stretch pass to Collin Graf, who hit the brakes and let Jacob MacDonald fly right by. Graf snapped the shot and Mandolese had no time to react for a 2–1 lead.

The Eagles gained a little momentum after the 10-minute mark of the third period. Innala ran the puck into the San Jose zone with 6:59 left and got pinned down by three Barracuda on the half boards. He sauced a sweet cross-ice pass to Megna, who went down to one knee and the one-timer shot. The Eagles took the lead for the first time since the opening period.

Tye Felhaber put the knife in the Barracuda’s back with 2:59 left in the game. Wyatt Aamodt tried to take a shot from the blue line, but it got blocked by traffic in front of the net. Jake Wise would gather it in his feet and push it out to Felhaber, who backhanded it over Askarov’s shoulder and the 3–2 lead.

Takeaways

The return of Foudy to the lineup put some actual pressure on the opposing defense to step up on him. He brings a style of play that no one on the Eagles really can with his skating skills. The Eagles gained their first road victory of the season, moving into second place in the division ahead of the Barracuda. San Jose may have been pushing back a lot of this game, but Colorado played it with poise and reacted well to the pressure. The veteran presence of the returning Eagles, I think, helps with that calmness in pressure situations a lot.

Upcoming

The Eagles will wrap up the two-game set against the San Jose Barracuda on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. at the Tech CU Arena in San Jose.