The Eagles come into Saturday’s game with a 2–1 series lead in the best-of-five series against the Henderson Silver Knights (VGK). Prior to this series, the Silver Knights averaged over four goals per game, but they’ve largely been stymied by Colorado’s superb defense and goaltending. Henderson netted four goals in their double overtime victory in game two, but games one and three were both shutouts by Trent Miner. Miner’s been outstanding so far this postseason. He leads the league with a GAA of .93 and a save percentage of .960.

In a pregame interview with Kevin McGlue, Coach Mark Letestu credited Colorado’s success in the series to total buy-in from the team, particularly with regards to defense. Of course the team wanted to stay aggressive, but he said multiple levels of shot suppression up the ice were the real secret to the team’s postseason success. He also commented on how critical Alex Gagne has been since returning from injury, marking the defenseman’s comeback as the point where Colorado’s season took a sudden fortuitous turn.

Recap

The game started off rough when Henderson’s Jackson Hallum scored off an Eagles turnover just 2:21 into the first period. After such a controlled game on Wednesday — possibly their best game of the entire season — the Eagles suddenly looked a little sloppy, turning over the puck and allowing multiple odd-man rushes. Luckily, Miner turned them all away. At 15:19 of the first, Gavin Brindley evened the score up with a messy net-front power play goal.

Unfortunately, Ben Hemmerling scored less than a minute later to retake the lead. Then, with just over a minute left in the period, Keaton Middleton sent a shot from the blue line. Tristen Nielsen tipped it through Carl Lindbom’s five-hole.

The Eagles went to first intermission tied 2–2. But whatever was said in the locker room after the first period worked. From that point on, the Eagles controlled every aspect of this game. At 6:36 of the second, Chase Bradley put the puck over Lindbom’s left shoulder to give the Eagles their first lead of the night.

It was the only goal scored in the middle frame. Just as Letestu said in pregame, the real success came on the defensive side of the puck. The Eagles allowed Henderson only two shots on goal in the second period.

Energy was high as the teams took the ice for the third. Only down by one, Henderson made a visible push to even things up. At 2:29 of the third, Mathieu Cataford went to the box for slashing. With only nine seconds left on the ensuing power play, Alex Barré-Boulet shot the puck past Lindbom to give the Eagles a 4–2 lead.

From there, it was all about locking down on defense again. The Eagles only had five shots on goal in the third (two of them on an empty net at the end of the period). But after the power play goal at 4:20, they only allowed seven shots to Henderson. Empty net goals by Middleton and Nielsen sealed the deal. The victory sends the Eagles on to round three for the Pacific Division final.

Takeaways

This game had very few penalties, but the Eagles’ special teams were absolutely perfect all the way around. The Eagles had two power plays and scored on both. Henderson had only one power play, early in the third period. Colorado’s kill was outstanding, outshooting the Silver Knights 1–0 during the two-minute period.

After struggling on special teams late in the season, the Eagles have now scored in five of their 18 playoff power plays. The Eagles have stayed disciplined, allowing only 11 power plays against them in six games, and allowing a goal only once.

In the other Pacific Division game last night, the fourth seed Coachella Valley Firebirds defeated the first seed Ontario Reign in double overtime.

2026 Calder Cup playoffs bracket, round 3.

2026 Calder Cup playoffs bracket, round 3.

This is good news for the Eagles for two reasons. First, the Eagles struggled against the Reign more than any other team in the league, going 2–4–1–1 against them in the regular season. Not having to face them in the playoffs feels like a huge win. Second, the Eagles will now have home ice advantage for round three of the Calder Cup Playoffs. Round three is a best-of-five series. As the higher seed, the Eagles can choose whether to start at home or finish at home. They’ve chosen the latter, so they’ll play two games in Coachella before returning to Loveland to finish off the series.

Up Next

Game one of round three will take place on May 13 at 8:07 pm Mountain Time. (Yes, it’s actually 8:07, not 8:05. Nobody knows why.) AHLTV on FloHockey.com will stream the game.