The Colorado Eagles arrived in Ontario, California for possibly their biggest test of the season. Before the game, the Ontario Reign (LAK) were in first place in the Pacific Division, four points ahead of the Eagles. They were 8–2–0–0 in their last ten games. The Reign’s power play ranked eighth in the league at 21.3%, and their penalty kill ranked fourth in the league at 84.9%. On the other hand, the Eagles have struggled lately, going 4–4–1–1 in their last ten. Their special teams were a big part of why they’ve been losing games. Since January 1, their power play has been at 15.2%, and their penalty kill at 75.7%. They were 1–4–0–1 against the Reign so far this season.

First Period

On Saturday versus Abbotsford, Colorado had seven starters out of their lineup. For Wednesday’s game, Sean Behrens and Valtteri Puustinen returned, but Tye Felhaber, Taylor Makar, Nikita Prishchepov, Hank Kempf, and Jason Polin remained injured.

It wasn’t a fortuitous beginning. Ivan Ivan continued his recent trend of committing way too many penalties, going to the box at 1:13 of the first for tripping. The Eagles just barely killed that penalty before allowing a goal just as time expired. Ten minutes later, the Reign scored again. Glenn Gawdin made a beautiful pass to Martin Chromiak. His shot bounced off the skate of an Eagles defender and into the net. As annoying as it was to watch them score a second time, the goal’s worth watching.

Ontario outshot the Eagles 9–4 and went to first intermission up 2–0.

Second Period

The Eagles started the second period the right way. At 2:24, Jayson Megna won a face-off and passed the puck to Alex Barré-Boulet, who shot it through traffic and into the net.

At 8:02, Wyatt Aamodt tied the game at two, assisted by TJ Tynan and Jack Ahcan. Just over a minute later, Tristen Nielsen had a mini-breakaway and gave the Eagles their first lead of the night.

At that point, the Eagles had only registered five shots on goal in the second period, but three found the twine. After a demoralizing first period, it was just what they needed.

Third Period

The Reign pushed back hard in the third period, outshooting the Eagles 8–3 through the first nine minutes. Colorado spent several extended periods bogged down in its own defensive zone. Trent Miner made some great saves, but at 9:12, Gawdin tied the game at three. With 1:51 left to play, Barré-Boulet went to the box for tripping, putting the Eagles on the penalty kill for the rest of regulation. It could have been a game-ending penalty, but Colorado’s PK came through for them, and the game proceeded to overtime.

Overtime and Shootout

A lot of opportunities were wasted in the overtime period. Multiple times, the Eagles gained possession only to chip it down the ice, or miss a long outlet pass, essentially turning the puck over without even getting a shot on goal. The Reign outshot them 4–0 in overtime, outplaying them for much of the extra period. Miner made the saves, though, and the game proceeded to a shootout. Both shooters scored in the first round. Neither shooter scored in the second round. In the third round, Nielsen and Miner were the heroes, securing the victory for Colorado.

Takeaways

This game was indicative of the Eagles’ hot-and-cold performances since January 1. When they’re playing their best game, they’re very hard to beat. They can score three goals in a period and lock the game down defensively, limiting the top team in the division to only five shots. At times like this game’s middle frame, they look unbeatable. But that “best game” only shows up about one-third of the time. Other times, they look frazzled and completely out of their depth. They make costly mistakes that often end up costing them games. (But not this time.)

On the bright side, the penalty issues that have plagued the Eagles over the last couple of weeks were minimal. They committed four penalties, although one was offset, allowing the Reign three power plays. The first one did result in an Ontario goal, just two seconds after the power play officially expired. The last one, taken when the game was tied, with less than two minutes to play, could have been disastrous. But Miner made the stops when they mattered most, and the Eagles gained two critical points in the standings.

Next Up

The Eagles wrap up their seven-game road trip with back-to-back games against the San Diego Gulls (ANA) on Friday and Saturday. The Gulls are currently seventh in the Pacific with a record of 25–19–8–4. They’re 3–4–2–1 in their last ten games. AHLTV on FloHockey.com will stream the game.