Following two games against the Chicago Wolves (CAR) in Loveland last week, the Eagles flew to the Windy City for a back-to-back series. They come into this weekend in second place in the Pacific Division, one point behind the Ontario Reign (LAK). The Eagles are 7–2–1–0 in their last ten games.

Friday night: 3–2 overtime loss

Cayden Primeau started in net for Chicago. Primeau, a seventh-round pick in 2017, was a major factor in his last start versus Colorado. The Eagles played well that night, outshooting the Wolves 43–18, but ended up losing in overtime. The heartbreaking loss was partly because of a very sub-par performance by Isak Posch, who ended the night with a .722 save percentage. It was also partly because the Eagles committed costly penalties. In that game, their usually robust penalty kill allowed two power-play goals.

No penalties or goals occurred for either team during the first fourteen minutes of the opening period. Then, at 14:32, Jack Ahcan scored on a delayed penalty to put the Eagles up 1–0.

Valtteri Puustinen and Alex Barré-Boulet assisted Ahcan, who now has six goals and 27 assists in 35 AHL games. He’s third on the Eagles in both points and assists. He’s also ranked third among all defensemen in the AHL for points and assists. The defenseman also has two assists in games this season with the Colorado Avalanche.

The Eagles went to the first intermission up 1–0, but Juuso Välimäki scored for the Wolves just 3:09 into the second period. It was Teddy Bear Toss night in Chicago, so a delay occurred while they cleared stuffed animals off the ice. The Eagles then once again scored late in the period when Nikita Prishchepov tallied his third goal of the season off a cross-slot pass from Jason Polin.

Tristen Nielsen had the secondary assist on the goal. He now has eighteen goals and twelve assists in 41 games. He ranks fifth on the team in points.

Defeat in OT again

The third period had a lot of back-and-forth action, but no goals until late in the game. Unfortunately, just like last weekend against Primeau, the Eagles ended up committing penalties that cost them the game. With 3:32 left in the game, Prishchepov went to the box for interference. Chicago pulled their goalie partway through the ensuing power play, giving them a two-man advantage. They scored shortly after the power play expired, tying the game at two and sending the game into overtime. Then, at 1:25 of the extra period, Ronnie Attard went to the box for slashing. The Wolves easily put the game away with a power play goal from Felix Unger Sörum.

Saturday: 3–2 loss

The Eagles started this game off right. A goal from Puustinen at 11:36 of the first period put them up 1–0.

It was Puustinen’s ninth goal of the season and his second as an Eagle. TJ Tynan and Bryan Yoon assisted him on the goal. Exactly one minute later, Polin added to the lead, scoring off a pass from Wyatt Aamodt. The Eagles took the 2–0 lead into intermission.

All Downhill from There

Colorado had a flurry of great opportunities through the first half of the second period, but couldn’t get it past Amir Miftakhov. A bit of sloppy puck management led to a breakaway from Chicago’s Bradly Nadeau, who ended up scoring his nineteenth goal of the season at 7:44 of the second, narrowing the Eagles’ lead to 2–1. Approximately one minute later, Luke Toporowski went to the box for tripping. Nadeau scored his second goal of the night on the ensuing power play, tying the game 2–2.

The third period felt like one penalty after another, although nobody scored off of a power play, but Chicago’s Noel Gunler scored his eighth goal of the year with only 3:48 left to play, giving the Wolves a 3–2 lead.

Takeaways:

The one big takeaway here is that the Eagles’ special teams are killing them, and the four recent games against the Chicago Wolves illustrate that point perfectly. In the Eagles’ one win against Chicago on January 7, they went three-for-six on the power play. They were also one-for-three on the penalty kill. Unfortunately, that kind of special teams success is an anomaly for the Eagles these last couple of months.

Now, let’s look at the three games the Eagles lost. The Eagles started out leading in all three, but couldn’t hang onto those leads because they kept committing penalties and giving Chicago power plays. And the Eagles’ previously stellar penalty kill has suddenly become rather unreliable. As a quick summary:

  • January 6, 5–4 OT loss: Colorado outplayed the Wolves all night and outshot them 43-18. Unfortunately, they also gave up two power-play goals, allowing Chicago to tie the game and eventually win in overtime.
  • January 14, 3–2 OT loss: The Eagles led for fifty-eight minutes of this game. But a penalty with only 3:32 left in the third period gave Chicago their game-tying goal, and another penalty committed in the extra period practically handed Chicago the victory.
  • January 15, 3–2 loss: The Wolves’ second-period game-tying goal also came on the power play.

That’s four power play goals allowed in those three games (one in overtime), plus a fourth goal that was one-hundred percent the result of a barely expired power play. And in those same three games, the Eagles had zero power play goals of their own despite having eleven opportunities. Considering these three losses were all one-point games, a single power play goal could have changed the outcome significantly.

The AHL apple doesn’t fall far from the NHL tree

Many Hockey Mountain High readers know about the Avalanche’s recent special teams struggles. Brennan Vogt wrote recently about how their abysmal power play may end up costing them a Stanley Cup. But many probably don’t realize the exact same power play is being utilized by the Eagles. Running the same system makes sense. It allows players called up from the AHL to the NHL to slide easily into the lineup. But unfortunately, the system isn’t any more effective for the Eagles than for the Avs. The Eagles either need to commit a lot fewer penalties, or they need to be stronger on the kill. And even more important, they need to improve on the power play.

Up Next:

The Eagles head home for games on February 20 and 21 against the Coachella Valley Firebirds (SEA). The Firebirds are currently ranked fourth in the Pacific Division with a record of 26–15–5–0. They are 6–3–1–0 in their last ten games. AHLTV on FloHockey.com will stream the game.