Coming into this series, the Colorado Eagles had the top-ranked penalty kill in the league, and a power play that ranked in the top three. At the weekend’s close, neither would reflect reality. The series against the San Jose Barracuda (SJ) was a special teams battle, and the Eagles lost on both sides of the equation.

Friday: 4–2 Win

There were fourteen penalties in this game. One team often played shorthanded throughout the second period. Despite having the top-ranked penalty kill in the league coming into the game, the Eagles gave up two power play goals to San Jose. And despite having the last-ranked PK in the league, the Barracuda held the Eagles scoreless on six power plays, including two abbreviated periods of 5-on-3. The Eagles scored short-handed, even-strength, and four-on-four, but couldn’t convert on the power play.

Saturday: 4-3 Loss

On Saturday, the battle of the special teams continued. This round, Eagles failed in battle, plus the war. Early in the second period, the Eagles led 2–0. They then gave up three goals in the second and a fourth in the third. Three of the four goals were power play goals for San Jose. The Eagles failed to convert during two power-play chances versus the league’s worst PK unit. The goal by Tristen Nielsen, scored during the game’s last minute, did not change the outcome.

It’s easy to complain about the officiating in this game. There were multiple blatant trips committed by San Jose that weren’t called. But in the end, the Eagles couldn’t score when they needed to and couldn’t stop the Barracudas’ power play unit.

Observations:

The observations after this series remain the same as they were last week in my Stat Tricks column: the power play is sometimes good but sometimes terrible (it’s 0/14 over the last five games), and the Eagles don’t seem to know how to play from behind. The minute they fall behind on the scoreboard, they devolve into a sloppy, penalty-ridden mess. Add to this the complete collapse of their previously stellar penalty kill, and it results in some hideous games.

One other bit of ugliness: Jason Polin left the game late in the second and did not return. Polin has three goals and three assists so far this season. Hopefully, it’s not a serious injury as he is an important contributor to this team.

On the bright side, Taylor Makar looks better with every game. He scored back-to-back goals in the first period on Friday night.

The Eagles tried to get him a hat trick, feeding him the puck late in the game, but it never quite panned out.

Tye Felhaber now leads the AHL in short-handed goals with three. Just for reference, the league-leader in short-handed goals in 2018–19 was Logan O’Connor with five. Felhaber’s more than halfway there and still has three quarters of a season to play.

Newcomer Luke Toporowski has four points in his first three games with the Eagles. He had two assists in his debut game against Tucson (UTA), an assist in Friday night’s game, and scored his first goal as an Eagle in Saturday’s game. He’s proving to be a great addition to the Eagles lineup.

 

Up Next

The Eagles head to Illinois to play against the Rockford IceHogs (CHI). The Eagles split the series against the IceHogs earlier in the season. Puck drop will be at 6:00 pm MST on both Friday and Saturday. AHLTV on FloHockey.com will stream the games.