The Colorado Eagles finished 3rd in the Pacific Division and played the 6th place Henderson Silver Knights in a best-of-3 series to kick off the Calder Cup Playoffs this last week. 

Game 1:

It was an exciting weeknight affair. Because the Eagles were the higher seed, they secured home ice and challenged Henderson for Game 1 on Wednesday at the Budweiser Events Center. Eagles Captain Jayson Megna scored 31 seconds into the first period and then again on a shorthanded opportunity. Megna, who missed a little time in February to tend to a lingering UBI, finished his regular season with a career-high points-per-game and his strong season only continued in Game 1. It was a scoreless second and much of the theatrics came about in the third period. Even in the absence of Dennis Gilbert at the blueline, the Eagles penalty kill unit managed to persevere with Megna, Andreas Englund, Roland McKeown, and Martin Kaut going 5/5 on the kill. 

Gilbert hurt his ankle in the final game of the regular season and would not play in this series.

“Tim [Branham] works hard on it. He’s had the PK all year. Goaltending is your best penalty kill, and I thought Justus [Annunen] made a couple big saves. Our forecheck and pressure down low gave them some problems. It was really well communicated from Tim what their roles were in terms of executing and they went out and they did it,” said head coach Greg Cronin.

Henderson played a more disciplined game and the Eagles powerplay struggled to generate meaningful chances going 0/2. Henderson opened the scoring in the third period with a goal from Paul Cotter to close the lead 2-1. In spite of this, an opportunistic second line Jean-Luc Foudy, whose utilization has varied throughout this year, provided an insurance goal. Henderson would get just one more goal before the Eagles delivered the final blows in two empty-net goals from Kiefer Sherwood and Mikhail Maltsev. The final score was 5-2.

The Eagles finished their regular season a week before most of the league due to some rescheduled games that kept the rest of the AHL in play through April 30th. To stay fresh, the team held an intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday. 

“We try to practice as game-like as possible. We emphasize that. I could tell Monday that we were ready to go. The layoff, I don’t think it hurt us. We came out pretty strong. I think we sustained it for two periods, so I think we were prepared and ready to go,” Cronin explained.

Game 2:

Jacob MacDonald, a Black Aces hopeful, also got a little dinged up in Game 1, so utility-player Rob Hamilton subbed in. This meant the Eagles d-corps would be without two penalty kill guys in MacDonald and Gilbert, but the adjustments made were effective for the Eagles.

Cronin did not have an update for MacDonald following the series sweep.

Frustrations from Game 1 spilled over into last night’s contest. Henderson goaltender, Jiri Patera, took a tripping penalty on Megna, Maltsev took 2 minor penalties including unsportsmanlike conduct, and the Eagles penalty kill unit was put to the test often in the first period alone. Megna attempted another shorthanded opportunity which revealed a serious weakness in Henderson’s PP.

Henderson also took 5 penalties and the Eagles finally made good with this Martin Kaut powerplay goal from Sherwood and Dylan Sikura in a 5-on-3. Megna took a puck to the face and left near the end of the first period and would unfortunately not return. There were actually 21 penalties in total with several matching penalties and two bench minors.

The second period allowed Henderson to get within one. At 6:21 a faceoff loss in the defensive zone created a Henderson chance and Pavel Dorofeyev beat Annunen glove side. To Annunen’s credit, he was solid in this series stopping 22 of 24 shots in Game 1 and 34 of 36 in Game 2.

It is a welcome sight after a bit of a difficult period following a loss to Stockton on March 19 after allowing 5 goals on 13 shots. Hunter Miska started 9 games following the troubles and earned 7 wins to help the Eagles in their home-ice bid near the end of the regular season. With Peter Budaj as their goaltending coach and Craig Billington and Ryan Bach at the helm – two former goaltenders – there is ample support available to the Eagles’ goalie tandem.

In Megna’s absence, the Eagles’ powerplay shifted and Maltsev was moved to the top unit. Coming on for PP2, Alex Beaucage scored a valuable insurance goal two minutes into the third period to give them a 3-1 lead. Earning his second of the series, Foudy scored another important goal at 10:50 in the third. The 4-1 lead was cut to 4-2 with a Knights goal scored late in the third, but Ryan Wagner would notch the empty-net goal to finalize the sweep with a final score of 5-2.

A big open-ice hit from Englund on Gage Quinney at the tail end of the third period resulted in a match and misconduct. Quinney got up of his own volition, but the incident may involve supplemental discipline if the handling of Beaucage’s hit in the Bakersfield series is any indication. This will be something to keep an eye on ahead of the Ontario series.

What’s Next:

The second round will be a best-of-5 divisional semifinal against the 2nd seed and familiar foe, the Ontario Reign. The Eagles went 4-2-0 against Ontario in the regular season and Sikura put up 6 goals and 4 assists against them alone. 

The Eagles faced Ontario very recently on April 20th – 23rd and closed out that series winning 2 of 3. Another key player from this matchup was Megna (4 G, 5 A) whose status is unknown following the incident in Game 2. Cronin did not have an update on him, so this will be another component to keep an eye on.

To prepare them for the series ahead, Cronin emphasized a winning mindset that starts well before opening night.

“We send our message out in training camp about our competitive level. We try to push our guys to play at an extraordinary level of competition,” he explained. “Those things you can’t turn them on and off. You try to get them, sometimes they slip, so you promote it and push it.”

Having home ice for the first two games will be a helpful asset for the Eagles. Friday night’s crowd was oversold and the atmosphere was electric. Even Cronin noted the impact.

“[The] crowd’s awesome. We always talk about it. We talk about it in between periods,” he said. “It’s such a catalyst behind the energy on the team. Our players feel responsible to play hard in front of them.”

The second round schedule:

Game 1 Wednesday, May 11 @ Colorado

Game 2 Friday, May 13 @ Colorado

Game 3 Sunday, May 15 @ Ontario, CA

Game 4 Tuesday, May 17 @ Ontario, CA

Game 5 Wednesday, May 18 @ Ontario, CA

Additional Notes:

• Sampo Ranta has been recovering from an ankle injury since early March. He’s returned to practice and has begun taking some contact. He is recovering well and is hopeful to play in a later series. Cronin explained it is an injury he does not want to rush Ranta to return from.
• Wyatt Aamodt, a new addition to the Eagles, made his debut on April 16th and played in just three games. He had some tough showings in a very limited role, but in the absence of Gilbert and MacDonald, Aamodt has looked more comfortable and confident as a stay-at-home defenseman type. He’s paired with Keaton Middleton and getting looks on the penalty kill.
• Some absences that can be chalked up to healthy scratches pending practice-by-practice considerations include new-arrival Oskar Olausson, Gabriel Fontaine, and Shane Bowers.
• Jordan Gross was voted the winner of the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s outstanding defenseman for 2021-22. He contributed 65 points in 61 games and has had an assist in both playoff games so far.