LOVELAND, Colo. — The Colorado Eagles closed out a six-game homestand — the longest of the season — with two victories against the Henderson Silver Knights (VGK). They also retook the lead in the Pacific Division, partially thanks to the Texas Stars (DAL) beating the Ontario Reign (LAK).

Saturday: 3–0 victory

At 4:32 of the second period, Saige Weinstein, a recent ECHL call-up playing only his second AHL game, scored his first career goal off a pass from Ivan Ivan.

Cooper Gay added his first goal of the year midway through the second period. Alex Barré-Boulet added an empty-net goal at 18:18 of the third to seal the victory.

Ivan had a two-point night with assists on both Weinstein and Gay’s goals. They were his first points since January 1 against the Calgary Wranglers (CGY). Tristen Nielsen, Jack Ahcan, TJ Tynan and Jason Polin each had one assist. Trent Miner also recorded his first AHL shutout of the year exactly one week after getting his first NHL shutout with the Avalanche against the Columbus.

Sunday: 4–1 victory

Henderson’s Matyas Sapovaliv scored the first goal of the night at 7:36 of the first period. It was the only goal the Silver Knights would score. Tye Felhaber evened things up three minutes later. The score remained tied at one through the second period and the first half of the third. Then Nielsen muscled the puck away from Jeremy Davies before passing it across the ice to Luke Toporowski, giving him his fourth goal of the year.

Nielsen and Taylor Makar both added empty-net goals at the end to put the game away.

Takeaways:

First, Coach Letestu commented on Saige Weinstein’s first AHL goal.

It is special, especially because for how young he is comparative to the league. I think he just turned 21. And it hasn’t been easy for him. There’s a lot of defensemen here. He’s been in Utah. He’s been working as hard as he can. And…honestly, we didn’t even know he was gonna play games. [The intent] was just to come up and get some practice and some video work, and then he gets in and plays two really good games and contributes and gets a goal. So, the guys were very happy for him, and I think it’s hopefully been a really positive experience for him and something he can build off of.

Previous posts (including here and here) discussed the Eagles’ slumping power play. I asked Coach Letestu how they intended to address the slump.

We’re trying to show guys video, comparing it to analytics, ’cause sometimes the eye test is hearsay, right? So try and get deeper into the numbers. Our pace has to increase. Our execution level’s got to go up. We have to increase the amount of chances per time we’re on the ice. The good news is, this is the halfway point. If we were perfect at this point, there’d be no need for coaches. So we’re working through it. You can hopefully get that unit humming by the time we’re dropping pucks and May and June.

Goaltender Isak Posch started out the year on fire, rising at one point to sixth in the league and making the AHL All-Star Roster as a rookie. But he hasn’t played since last week when he allowed six goals on twenty-one shots from the Reign. I asked if he was a healthy scratch or if he had been injured.

Yeah, he’s been a healthy scratch. He’s probably at where he would be in a typical college season, and we’ve seen some of his habits, and some of the exhaustion maybe setting in. So this was honestly just a weekend to give him a reset, to work on some technical things and sharpen up on some stuff. And he’s approached that really well. He’s going to get back in the net for us. It’s just, we have this luxury of three goalies that are winning hockey games for us. We were able to get him kind of back to school for a little bit, ’cause at times when you’re playing games, some of the technical side can get sleepy, and so him and Matt have been working hard, trying to tighten some things up, so that when he gets back in there, he can reclaim that All-Star formula.

The Coach also talked about what Nielsen and Toporowski have brought to the table these last few games.

Injecting those guys into a lineup adds a tremendous amount of urgency. [Nielsen and Toporowski] play like they don’t want to come out. And sometimes that’s the unintended consequences of shuffling guys in and out. And I thought Tristen had a weekend where he was physically engaged and under the skin of the opponent all weekend. And that’s when he’s at his best.

Despite some struggles the last couple of weeks, the Eagles are back in first place in the Pacific Division, although the Reign are hot on their heels. Of course the team are aware of the standings, but Coach Letestu emphasized the need to play one game at a time.

I’m trying not to watch the standings too much. I’m trying to just focus on game to games and collecting points. We fell short in a couple games, but we found a way to get four this weekend and sail off into a long road trip on a positive note.

Next Up:

The Eagles will indeed “sail off” to California for a three-game road trip. They’ll face the Bakersfield Condors (EDM) on Wednesday and Friday, and the Ontario Reign on Sunday. AHLTV on FloHockey.com will stream the games.