Recap: Eagles respond to loss with six goal victory over Reign

The Colorado Eagles came out with flair from the beginning.

The Colorado Eagles looked to bounce back from a flat performance last night against the Ontario Reign (LAK). The lineup continues to suffer with injuries as Jason Polin, Ondrej Pavel, Matthew Stienburg all continue to be out with injuries. After making his NHL debut with the Colorado Avalanche, Trent Miner returned to the team today, but did not play however. Last night was all about the special teams, or lack thereof, with the Eagles. They had five chances on the power play and could not convert on any of them but tonight’s game was a different story.

First Period

The first period started out with just pure chaos. Just 16 seconds into the game, defensemen Devante Stephens and Luke Rowe dropped the gloves on a heavyweight tilt. The fight broke out in the Ontario zone and lasted for what seemed like forever. After the officials separated them, both players showed respect with some pats on the shoulders. Then, Stephens pumped up the crowd as the officials escorted him off the ice.

Only 15 seconds later, the Eagles used the energy from the crowd and the fight to push the play. Calle Rosén drifted backwards at the left point as waited for the loose puck to come to him. Rosén took a snapshot at the net and Tye Felhaber waited for the rebound to the left of the crease. Felhaber finished by wristing the puck into the open net and putting the Eagles up with a 1–0 lead.

Second Period

One thing defined the second frame, and it was the lack of defense, with five goals scored in the period. The Eagles scored three goals and two were scored by the Reign. The period would start rough for the Eagles. With 16:22 left in the second period, Jacob MacDonald tripped up an Ontario player along the wall. This caused a delayed penalty and Reilly Walsh took advantage of the situation. Former Eagle Charles Hudon passed it up to the top of the slot to Walsh and he snapped it past goaltender Kevin Mandolese to make it a tied game at one goal each.

Colorado would strike back with three three straight goals, all from different players. With 14:43 left in the period, The Eagles passed the puck along the boards, trying to draw the Reign in with them. Chase Bradley sent the puck down low behind the net for Matthew Phillips, who passed up to Jake Wise in the low slot. Wise finished for his third of the year and would help keep Phillips on a 10-game point streak.

Last night, one thing that the Eagles struggled on was the power play. With 12 minutes left in the period, Kaleb Lawrence received a slashing call and Colorado redeemed themselves. Jayson Megna helped work the blue line with MacDonald to keep the puck in the zone. Megna passed down to T.J. Tynan down in the corner, opening up MacDonald on the high slot. MacDonald ripped a shot and redeemed himself the tripping call earlier to make it 3–1 Eagles.

Colorado looked as if they had found the chip in the Reign’s armor late in the second. With 4:47 left, they once again ran the puck along the edge of the zone on the boards, trying to find a weak spot. Tynan saw Jack Ahcan pinching down the slot with speed and threw it up to him. Ahcan dribbled and tapped it over to Nikita Prishchepov on the right side of the crease. The puck slipped off Prishchepov’s stick and Ahcan slapped the puck into an empty net for the 4–1 lead.

The last thing that the Reign wanted to do was give up, so they pushed hard to gain their footing back. As the Eagles tried to enter the Ontario zone with 1:47 left in the period, the Reign pinched them off of the puck and stole it away. It started a three on three rush to the Eagles’ net. Jeff Malott carried it behind Mandolese and centered the puck to the high slot for Angus Booth. He went bar down and brought the Reign within two goals to end the second.

Third Period

The Third period did not start too hot for Colorado as Ontario fought back to tie the game with two goals in under 30 seconds. With 16:24 left in regulation, Colorado dumped the puck into the Ontario zone. Jacob Ingham topped it behind the net and Ontario rushed out of the zone. Jeff Malott threw a stretch pass up the middle to Glenn Gawdin, and he caught the Colorado defense off guard. Gawdin whipped a hard shot past Mandolese and made it 4–3 Eagles.

The final Ontario goal of the night came on the following shift. The Reign put some solid pressure on the Eagles and kept the puck in the Eagles’ zone. Joe Hicketts got a shot off that sent the puck flying towards the blue line. Shawn Element gathered the loose puck and ran in quickly to snap the shot off before the defense could ever react and tie the game at four goals each.

The fifth goal for the Eagles had to be the most exciting. Bradley’s hard work finally paid off. He stood in the neutral zone and saw that Phillips was crashing the zone with Stephens. Bradley sent a laser to the corner of the net right as Stephens got there and tapped it in for his first goal as an Eagle. This also wrapped up the Gordie Howe Hat Trick for Stephens and the Eagles took the lead back 5–4. It was a back-and-forth battle for the rest of the period, but Wise netted an empty net goal to secure the win and a 6–4 victory.

Takeaways

The Eagles responded exactly like they needed to, with a lot of goals and overwhelming force. They did it on both ends of the ice and added a power play goal to boot. This victory will be a very important two-point and morale booster before the team has to hit the road for the next week. Colorado took head coach Aaron Scheekloth’s criticism to heart and turned their game completely around.

Upcoming

The Eagles will hit the road for three games starting on Wednesday with the Coachella Valley Firebirds (SEA) at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California at 8 p.m.