What went right?

Jason Polin

Polin opened the scoring for the Eagles tonight on the power play with a one timer in the slot. “Obviously it’s nice to see the puck and then see the red light, but it’s a great pass by Tynan,” Polin said. “Anyway, I can help the team win. It’s what I want to do, and unfortunately, it didn’t work out the way I wanted tonight, but we’ll bounce back.” Polin also drew several penalties with his aggressive play. This put the Eagles on the power play and shifted the game their way.

Jason Polin rips his first goal of the year with a dandy from the slot on the PP. Assists from Olausson and Tynan. #Avs #GoAvsGo    #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/Klxp282eHv

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) October 13, 2024

Jayson Megna

The Eagles brought Megna back to Colorado this year after playing for the Colorado Avalanche in 2022. He showed exactly why the team named him captain in these last two games. Megna has led through leadership and example. He has been one of the few players on the forecheck and creating chances shorthanded. In two games, Megna has secured two assists with hard work.

What went wrong?

Power play

Last night, I said that the power play was showing they had some chemistry already. The unfortunate part is that they cannot convert on their chances. Over the first two games, the power play unit has only converted twice in 14 chances. It is a young season, they still have a lot of time to figure it out, but the Eagles had a conversion problem last season too.

Great fight here in the 3rd between Onyebuchi and Middleton. Onyebuchi actually stops the fight after Middleton's face gets cut. #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/qGqJYKFND7

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) October 13, 2024

Conclusion

Over two games, the Eagles have shown that they are a much faster team than last season. They still have some grit with players like Matt Stienburg and Keaton Middleton as well. So this will be an interesting season to watch as we get to see GM Kevin MacDonald’s work all come to fruition and institute the Colorado Avalanche system. The Eagles will not play again until next Friday against the Abbotsford Canucks at Blue Arena in Loveland.

Interviews

The post Special teams play vital role in Eagles’ first loss appeared first on The Rink.

Penalty kill

The penalty kill was on point tonight. Despite a discipline problem, with seven penalties in the game for the Eagles, the kill unit did their job. There were several times that Eagles forwards caught the Roadrunners off guard and rushed up the puck. Ondrej Pavel, Jayson Megna and Matt Stienburg all had breakaway chances. Stienburg converted on the shorthanded rush. “He handled probably the bulk of the penalty kill for us,” said head coach Aaron Scheekloth. “He made a lot of strong reads, and just like on his goal at the end of his shift, he sees Megna create a lot of time and space in the slot, and he finds just enough legs to get there and get good poise on the collection, and finds open spot. I thought he was strong.” Tucson would only finish the night one for seven on a great night of killing.

They just had to break the ice! Matt Stienburg rips his first for the year and shorthanded!!!!! Assists come from captain Megna! #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/Pc4VCnuaZA

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) October 12, 2024

Power play

The power play unit was strong even though it converted once in seven chances themselves. There was confidence in moving the puck and they did it with ease. Jacob MacDonald would score the first goal of the year on a power play for the Eagles. There was an unfortunate play in the third that Jean-Luc Foudy took a hard crosscheck during a power play. He did not return to the game. After the game, I saw Foudy walking around in the hall with no limp.

In triumphant return, Jacob MacDonald breaks the shutout and gets the 1st Eagles' goal of the year on the PP. Assists came from Phillips and Tynan. #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/ft55SlgA4m

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) October 12, 2024

Conclusion

There were few things that went wrong for the Eagles’ home opener tonight. I could say that it went almost as planned. The Eagles won 3–1 and saw a fast team hit the ice with only a week and half of practice under their belt. Compared to last season, this team is much faster, going in line with what the Colorado Avalanche has built in the NHL. This team will be fun to watch this season. They play again on Saturday night against the Tucson Roadrunners in Loveland at 7 PM.

Matthew Phillips scores down low with the assist coming from Nikita Prishchepov, his first pro point! #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/ppwGOK7KDZ

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) October 12, 2024

Interviews

The post Eagles win home opener appeared first on The Rink.

Takeaways

— Defense was tighter and played more to their position tonight. Despite the loss of Sam Malinski to an upper-body injury last night, the defense overall were giving up fewer chances. They were forcing the Roadrunners out past the faceoff dots and taking away quality shots. This made the job for Ivan Prosvetov a lot easier than he could shut down the posts. And because of this, Prosvetov looked calmer in the net compared to last night, where he looked panicked.

Prosvetov with a miraculous save to keep the Roadrunners scoreless! #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/NRd1ObQC1Q

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) April 14, 2024

— The Eagles have now scored one or fewer goals in 20 of 68 of their games this season. It is not just the power play that is a problem; it is even strength, too. Colorado cannot consistently put the puck into the net. You can say that injuries have been an enormous factor to this. Jean-Luc Foudy missed over half of the season with multiple injuries. Right as he was getting hot, Oskar Olausson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury that sidelined him. Joel Kiviranta had a hot stick and then Artturi Lehkonen got hurt and the Eagles have not seen him since. Their big guns can’t get into a rhythm, unfortunately.

Corey Schueneman with the one timer to tie it back up! Cal Burke with the setup after running around the back of the net. #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/TuSEy6BGZO

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) April 14, 2024

— The team’s failure to follow up with shots to the net could also be attributed to the lack of offense. In both last night’s game and tonight, Matthew Villalta was horrible at holding onto the puck. He was constantly giving secondary chances that the Eagles were not taking advantage of. Colorado was not following their own shots to the net and getting the secondary chances.

We'll give it a ten from Ben #LetsGoTucson https://t.co/mNNWSxAnws pic.twitter.com/69RauygaAQ

— Tucson Roadrunners (@RoadrunnersAHL) April 14, 2024

Conclusion

The Eagles now are on a gradual slide in the wrong direction. They have lost four of their last six games, all have been key games to keeping the playoff position. With only four games remaining in the schedule, Colorado MUST win all of them in order to get home ice back. That success may depend on how quickly Malinski, Matthew Stienburg, Jason Polin and Tanner Kero all can come back to the lineup. The Eagles will come home to Loveland on Tuesday to play the San Diego Gulls and hopefully pull a win out.

The post Eagles fall short once again; losing home ice appeared first on The Rink.

Takeaways

— Sam Malinski did not play beyond the first period in the game. This will be a significant loss on the blue line for the Eagles and possibly for the Colorado Avalanche as well. About halfway through the first frame, Malinski laid a massive hit in the corner. He seemed fine after that, but never returned to the game after the intermission. Malinski provides a spark on the backend and the power play despite his rookie status. He has five goals and 20 assists in 45 games played with the Eagles this season.

Sam Malinski just sent him to another world….#Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/KbzeaphAgn

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) April 13, 2024

— The power play continues to suffer. As the Eagles could not convert the three opportunities they had tonight, it would have made the difference in the game. The power play has been a topic of conversation. Colorado has not converted in their last 25 chances in the eight games. Even strength scoring has been falling short with a 5–3–1–1 record in their last ten games.

Cal Burke drives the puck into the zone and throws it over to Corey Schueneman and a tap pass for Ryan Sandelin to push into the back of the net. #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/76gjFkVPL0

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) April 13, 2024

The physical game tonight highlighted the absence of Matthew Stienburg and Jason Polin. Both the forwards, who did not play because of upper-body injuries, play a very physical brand of hockey. Polin can spark the offense into the zone and Stienburg is a third line grinder. Both know how to lay a shoulder into a man and let someone know they are there to take the puck away.

Jason Polin is a MENACE #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/oDqv7U0jaw

— x – Barstool Denver (@BarstoolDenver) September 16, 2023

Matt Stienburg lays a man over the boards and into the benches. He immediately gets jumped by 2 Canucks as a result. Ends in a Eagles PP. #Avs #GoAvsGo    #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/SSQwn5vuww

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) March 31, 2024

Conclusion

With the loss, Colorado now falls to fifth in the standings and will start the playoffs on the road. In the Pacific Division, the home team’s arena hosts the entire first round. There is no travel. So if the Eagles lose that advantage, this will be huge. Injuries are piling up at the worst possible time. Starting goalie Trent Miner has no expected return date and Dalton Smith (another grinder) is expecting a baby. Tanner Kero, a top-six forward, is out with an upper-body injury and has no expected return date either. The Eagles will battle the Roadrunners again tomorrow night at 8pm.

The post Malinski potentially hurt in Eagles loss appeared first on The Rink.

Quick hits

— The Eagles’ discipline in the first period killed any momentum they could gain. By spending too much time in the penalty box and killing penalties, they could not gain an offensive push on the Roadrunners.

“I think it first started with some discipline,” said head coach Aaron Schneekloth. “They went three in a row and then we had a power play. So it’s kind of hard to get a rhythm and get guys into the game that early, so it was difficult circumstances when you’re back-to-back penalty kill, power play, penalty kill. So I think that was part of the problem. We talked about it after the intermission and some minor adjustments we wanted to make because that’s a big, fast, hard-working team we played and we need to make sure we’re in dominant positions to get down.”

— After missing the last four games with a lower-body injury, Tanner Kero returned and made an immediate impact. Kero assisted the opening goal and secured the win with an empty-net goal. With Arvid Holm slightly off position, he still pulled off a save in net. Kero laid down and “stacked the pads” and saved a Roadrunner goal. Unfortunately, he did not get to play against his former team, the Texas Stars, but I saw him in the hall catching up with them.

Hunt scores his sixth of the season to get the Eagles up 1-0. Kero rolls into the lineup and immediately helps out with Paré as well. #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/6VXUfDP1FI

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) December 9, 2023

“Obviously you want to want to be the best you can be every night and I think just focusing on doing the little things, competing hard and trying to win the minor battles all over the ice,” Kero said. “And then it seems like that’s when you get rewarded offensively. So we’re just going to build off that for tomorrow.”

A heck of a return for Tanner Kero as he throws it down the ice for his first of the year in an empty net. Eagles lead 4-2 with 40.5 seconds left. #Avs #GoAvsGo    #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/6EB4Y78pPV

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) December 9, 2023

— The depth players contributed to the game, pushing the play offensively for the Eagles. Cedric Pare assisted on two goals tonight, his first multi-point game in eight games. His contribution set up Kero and Brad Hunt for the first goal of the evening. He then started the third by setting up a play down low for Alex Beaucage to Ondrej Pavel.

— Pavel has added points on the page as well. With his second goal of the season, the gritty forward is getting comfortable in crashing the net in the AHL. Pavel, like at the University of Minnesota-Mankato, assumes the role of a penalty killer.

Ondrej Pavel with the sweet finish for his second of the year with a tight pass from Alex Beaucage below the goal line. Paré with the secondary assist and second point tonight #Avs #GoAvsGo    #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/qWxApehopy

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) December 9, 2023

Conclusion

The Eagles shut down one of the top goalies in the AHL in Matthew Vallalta of Tucson. They should be able to crash the net easily by continuing the pressure from the second and third periods. The power play still continues to struggle with every goal scored at even strength, leaving Colorado in a 1-for-19 slump in six games. The series will continue tomorrow in Loveland at Blue Arena as the Eagles hope to take a two-game lead in the series.

The post Tucson’s winning streak snapped by Eagles appeared first on The Rink.