LOVELAND, Colo. — The Colorado Eagles continue to look for the top seed in the West as they battled the Tucson Roadrunners (UTA) on Sunday afternoon. A rough and tumble 6–2 victory on Saturday evening brought every type of goal from the Eagles. The Eagles tallied goals at short-handed, power-play, and even-strength situations. Coming into Sunday, the Eagles have only 12 games remaining in the regular season and need only eight points to clinch a place in the postseason. Colorado even has a chance of winning their first Pacific Division title since joining the AHL with 19 points. The Eagles pushed the play hard on the Roadrunners all night and walked away with a 5–2 victory and remained six points ahead of the Ontario Reign (LAK) in the division. The Eagles sweep the weekend and move on to another road trip after a rousing four game set at home.

Takeaways

The Eagles have consistently gone to an offensive method of smothering the opposing team in their own zone. Colorado would take it into the Tucson zone, but the moment they lost the puck, they attacked one man. This has become more of a trend lately and allowed the Eagles to keep the puck in the opposing team’s zone to keep the attack going.

The penalty kill for the Eagles in this and recently has been something to behold. Before the game on Sunday, they had killed 84.3 percent of their penalties. Calle Rosén incurred two penalties in the second period and the Eagles killed both with unique circumstances. In the first one, Wyatt Aamodt’ stick broke and Chris Wagner had to play an entire minute after giving up his stick. On the second penalty, Tye Felhaber sped away for his third short handed goal of the season. Colorado is now tied with the Charlotte Checkers (FLA) with 14 shorthanded goals for the AHL lead.

Jacob MacDonald

Jacob MacDonald reached the 50 point mark for the second time in his career on Sunday. His 27 goals currently lead all AHL defensemen, and he’s poised to break a nearly 25-year-old record. John Slaney scored 30 goals in 1999–2000 and MacDonald has a real chance of catching him.

“It’s really cool,” MacDonald said of the record. “It’s a testament to the guys on this team. Honestly, it seems really good all year. Success and thankful to be a part of it. So it speaks volumes to the quality of players that we have on this team.”

 

“He’s having a special year offensively,” head coach Aaron Schneekloth said about MacDonald. “And he’s doing it the right way. He understands where he needs to be, his anticipation. Especially on the power play and at the offensive blue line are at a high right now, and he’s getting rewarded for it. And the nice thing about it is he’s not pressing for it. He’s just going out and playing his game and playing the right way. And usually when you do that, you’re going to find yourself in a position to get rewarded.”

Upcoming

The Eagles will hit the road and travel to take on the Bakersfield Condors on Wednesday, March 26 at the Dignity Health Arena. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. MT and AHLTV on FloHockey.com will stream the game.