Last week, the Eagles lost the Division lead to the Ontario Reign (LAK) before rebounding and sweeping the Henderson Silver Knights (VGK) in a two-game series. They then headed to California for a six-game road-trip, starting with the Bakersfield Condors (EDM). Bakersfield came into the series in third place in the division, only four points behind the Eagles. Bakersfield also has been on a roll, going 9–0–1–0 in their last ten games. On the other hand, the Eagles are 5–2–1–2 in their last 10 games, so both teams were looking to clip the wings of each other.

Wednesday night: 3–0 loss

This game went a lot like the Colorado Avalanche’s game against Anaheim, which was being played at the same time on Wednesday night. The Eagles outshot the Condors 37–24, but couldn’t get anything past goaltender Matt Tomkins. And despite having five power play chances, the Eagles once again could not score when given the man-advantage. What made the Eagles’ game more frustrating than the Avalanche game? Trent Miner had an atrocious first period, giving up three goals on Bakersfield’s first six shots on net. Following that, he steadied himself and solidified control, yet the harm was done. The Eagles failed to score even one goal, much less the three required for a tie. The one bright spot of the night was the penalty kill, which held strong during all four Bakersfield power plays.

Friday night: 4–1 victory

After being shut out on Wednesday, the Eagles came out with something to prove on Friday. They outshot Bakersfield 21–5 in the first period and took a one-goal lead into the first intermission, thanks to T.J. Tynan’s second goal of the year. Sean Behrens scored his first professional goal in the second period to put the Eagles up by two.

Bakersfield’s Ethan Keppen evened the score late in the period.

The Eagles added to their lead five minutes into the third when Tye Felhaber threw a puck toward the net. Alex Barré-Boulet tipped it in, giving him his thirteenth goal of the season.

Ivan Ivan scored an empty-net goal late in the game to secure the victory for the Eagles.

Takeaways:

Last week, the Avalanche traded Ilya Solovyov for Pittsburgh’s Valtteri Puustinen. Puustinen was second in points for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, with seven goals and 19 assists in 35 games. Friday night was his first time in the lineup for the Eagles, and he came away with his first point, scoring the secondary assist on T.J. Tynan’s goal in the first period. 

Sean Behrens missed all of last season because of an injury. He was also recently out of the lineup for several games because of a separate injury. Friday night was his first game back, so finally scoring his first professional goal has been a long time coming.

The Eagles’ power play continues to struggle, as outlined in several previous articles, including this one and this one. In their last nine games, the Eagles have scored only twice in 26 power-play opportunities — and one of those was an empty-net goal. That’s an abysmally low 7.7 percent. Their power play has fallen from second in the league to thirteenth. On the other hand, the penalty kill continues to be stellar. In that same time frame, they’ve allowed only five power-play goals in thirty chances. They were 0-for-8 against Bakersfield, who came into the series ranked third in the league.

Up Next:

The Eagles will face the Ontario Reign (LAK) Saturday night at 7:00pm MST. The Reign are currently in second place in the Division, right on Colorado’s heels. The Eagles are 1–3–0–1 against Ontario this season. AHLTV on FloHockey.com will stream the game.