After losing in double overtime on Monday night, the Colorado Eagles returned home to finish off the best-of-five playoff series against the Henderson Silver Knights (VGK). The winner of this series will advance to the Pacific Division Championship.

Jack Ahcan, one of the top defensemen in the AHL, returned to the lineup tonight.

Recap

It was obvious from the start that the Eagles came to play. They outshot the Silver Knights 13–8 in the first period and didn’t allow Henderson a single shot on goal until more than halfway through the first period.

The middle frame was where all the magic happened. At only 3:21, Ivan Ivan won a faceoff and passed the puck to Jason Polin who tipped it to Alex Gagne. Gagne beat Carl Lindbom from the blue line, scoring his second goal of the playoffs.

Approximately ninety seconds later, Tye Felhaber slapped one home from the top of the slot, giving the Eagles a 2–0 lead.

He was assisted on the goal by T.J. Tynan and Alex Barré-Boulet. Then, at 13:46, Henderson’s Lucas Johansen attempted to pass the puck up the ice from behind Miner’s net. Barré-Boulet intercepted the puck and passed it to Tristen Nielsen who quickly gave the Eagles a 3–0 lead.

By the end of the second, the Eagles led in shot on goal 24–11.

Henderson made a hard push in the third period, outshooting Colorado 9–3, but Trent Miner denied them all. With only 16 seconds left to play, Nielsen hit the empty net, scoring his second goal of the game and securing the win for the Eagles.

Takeaways

The Eagles have played well all postseason, with their only loss being in double overtime on Monday. But this game was without a doubt their strongest playoff game so far. Passes were crisp and clean. They were disciplined throughout, allowing only one power play for Henderson’s top-rated special teams unit. Colorado absolutely dominated play through the first two periods of the game. And Trent Miner, who only had one shutout all season, earned his third playoff shutout in only five games. He has a cumulative postseason GAA of .93 and a save percentage of .960.

Barré-Boulet was involved in three of the Eagles’ four goals. He, Nielsen, and Tynan were Colorado’s strongest line tonight. The only thing that wasn’t near-perfect was the Eagles’ power play. They had four opportunities on the man advantage but failed to convert on any of them. Still, it’s hard to complain after such a dominating performance.

Up Next

The Eagles will attempt to finish off the playoff series on Saturday at 7:05 Mountain time. AHLTV on FloHockey.com will stream the game.