LOVELAND, Colo. — Having lost three out of their last five games, the Colorado Eagles certainly needed a game to turn things around. Beating the hated rivals, the Tucson Roadrunners, could do that for them, especially after the close game against the Iowa Wild last week. Tucson has won four of their last five games. Two of those games were against the floundering San Jose Barracuda. It motivated both teams to win the game. Here are the quick hits from the 4–2 win over the Roadrunners.
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.