Recap: Eagles winning streak halted at three games

The Colorado Eagles drop the final game of their home stand going 3–1 at home.

The Colorado Eagles looked to jump into second place in the Pacific Division tonight if they could snatch another victory against the Coachella Valley Firebirds (SEA). Last night the Eagles continuously crashed the net, and it led to a 5–0 victory. Colorado still suffers from some injury problems with Jean-Luc Foudy, Matt Stienburg and Chad Hillebrand all out with upper-body injuries. This does not include the missing players that the Colorado Avalanche have called up to fill their gaps from licking their wounds.

First Period

The opening frame was of a sleepy period for these two teams. With the Eagles playing their fourth game in six days, they appeared to lack energy. Colorado’s rushes into the Firebird’s zone did not have the same zest as it did in last night’s contest. The two teams would exchange runs into each other’s end with only a few chances on net. With 3:29 left in the period, the referees caught Tye Felhaber trying to cheat with a hold and sent him to the box. The Eagles killed the penalty and held the Firebirds to a mere four shots on net to their seven. The first would end in a scoreless tie.

Second Period

Things picked up with four goals scored in total in the period. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Firebirds scored more. The first chance that Colorado had on the power play, they took advantage of. Jayson Megna ran the puck up to the left point and left it there for Jacob MacDonald. He ran down into the zone and sent a cross slot pass to Jere Innala for a one timer from his knee and the 1–0 lead.

Five and a half minutes later, the Firebirds pushed back hard. They threw the puck into the right corner where Gustav Olofsson settled it down and centered it for Lleyton Roed to roof over past Trent Miner and a tie game.

Exactly two minutes after the Firebirds scored their first, they would add to their tally. Eagle’s defenseman Wyatt Aamodt tried to navigate around the perimeter and then got tripped up right below the blue line. Three Firebirds took off into the Eagles’ zone on an odd man rush and started a tic-tac-toe play around the slot. Jagger Firkus would eventually tap the goal in and take a 2–1 lead.

The real nail in the coffin would come late in the second period. As Colorado tried to work their way out of their own zone, Olofsson stole the puck along the half boards. Cale Fleury was waiting to receive the pass and snapped it towards the net. John Hayden crossed the middle of the slot and redirected the puck up into the net and solidified the Firebirds’ 3–1 lead.

Third Period

Coachella Valley absolutely shut down Colorado in the last period. Colorado spent very little time out of their own zone outside of the one power play they had early on. With 2:03 left in the game, Colorado would pull Miner for the extra attacker. They worked the puck around the edge with some ease as Megna passed it down to the left corner for Matthew Phillips. He sent it across the crease for Jason Polin and he tapped it into the net to get within one. However, the Eagles ran out of time and lost 3–2.

Takeaways

Not that the Eagles did not play a good game, it is that they played like they were tired. They were playing their fourth game in six days (a lot for AHL), and lacked energy in the third. There was no grit or drive like there was in the game last night. Colorado still came out of this home stand with three wins out of the four games. They are in third place in the division and take on the team ahead of them this weekend. The real challenge will be their goaltender, Yaroslav Askarov, shut the Eagles out twice last year to start a 21-game run with Milwaukee. The key over the next couple of days will be rest, and lots of it.

Upcoming

The Colorado Eagles start a two-game series against the San Jose Barracuda on Saturday, November 9th at 7 p.m. at the Tech CU Arena in San Jose. This game will be the AHL’s free game of the week available on all social media platforms.