The Colorado Eagles arrived in Henderson, Nevada, for a back-to-back series against the Silver Knights (VGK). At the beginning of the weekend, Colorado sat in second place in the Pacific Division standings, trailing by one point behind the Ontario Reign (LAK). The Silver Knights sat in eighth place in the ten-team division with a record of 22–18–6–2. Special teams would play a big role in the series for both sides.

Jacob MacDonald returned to the lineup last week after missing the first half of the season rehabbing from hip surgery. The Eagles are easing him back into the lineup, playing him in only one game of each back-to-back series.

Saturday: 4–2 loss

This loss came down to two simple factors: penalties and special teams. It began midway through the first period when Jack Ahcan was called for continuing play after a Henderson player knocked his helmet off in the crease.

This resulted in a Henderson power-play goal from Kai Uchacz. Two minutes later, a stray bounce off the open door of Henderson’s bench resulted in an Eagles goal, credited to Keaton Middleton. The teams went to first intermission tied at one.

Henderson’s Tanner Laczynski scored his sixteenth goal of the season 6:20 into the second. There were two penalties called in the second period, both on Colorado. Alex Barré-Boulet and Alex Gagne were both called for tripping. The Eagles killed the first of these penalties, but Henderson scored another goal on the second of them, and the Eagles went to the second intermission down 3–1.

The Eagles had a lot of sustained pressure in the third. They received their second power play of the game midway through the period, but once again failed to score. Still, it looked like they might mount a comeback when Jayson Megna put one home at 13:34 of the period.

Unfortunately, despite outshooting Henderson 19–5 in the third, the Eagles could not find the net a second time. Ben Hemmerling scored the final goal of the game at 16:43, ending any chance of a comeback.

Sunday: 4–3 shootout victory

This game came way too close to going the same way as the first.

MacDonald didn’t play as part of his load management. Tye Felhaber and Ronnie Attard were both out because of upper-body injuries. Isak Posch started in net. Once again, Henderson’s first goal of the night came thanks to an Eagles penalty when Gagne was called for tripping. Raphael Lavoie scored on the very first shot of the Henderson power play. Just over a minute later, Tristen Nielsen evened the score.

It was Nielsen’s nineteenth goal of the season. At 19:58 of the period, Taylor Makar went to the box for tripping. The Eagles went to intermission tied 1–1.

The Eagles started the second period on the penalty kill after Makar’s late penalty in the first. They killed that penalty, but at 5:18, Ivan Ivan went to the box for slashing. Henderson rookie Hemmerling scored on the ensuing power play to make the score 2–1. The Eagles outshot Henderson 15–4 in the second frame, but thanks to another failed power play of their own, they went to the second intermission down 2–1.

The third period felt like a roller coaster, and Ivan seemed to be at the center of it all. First, Ivan scored at 3:25 of the period to tie the game at two. Only a few minutes later, he went to the box for slashing. With fourteen seconds left to kill off, Wyatt Aamodt was called for high-sticking, resulting in Henderson’s third power-play goal of the evening, this time by Matyas Sapovaliv. Two minutes and fifteen seconds later, Makar tied the game once again, assisted, of course, by Ivan.

Overtime started out rough, with Ivan committing yet another penalty. This time — the time it mattered most — the Eagles’ penalty kill held strong. Posch had his best saves of the night during the overtime period.

The game ended a shootout. It took six rounds, but Valtteri Puustinen ultimately played the hero and secured the Eagles’ victory.

Takeaways:

Special teams are the Eagles’ Achilles’ heel right now. In their last ten games, they’ve allowed goals in ten out of thirty-four kills. That’s 70.6% for the Eagles’ penalty kill. Although it’s currently ranked fourteenth in the league, that 70.6% would put them dead last compared to the league’s overall numbers. In those same ten games, they’ve scored on only six of their thirty-six power-play attempts. The special teams absolutely need to be better on both sides.

Despite losing on Saturday, the Eagles finished the weekend exactly where they started — one point behind the Ontario Reign in the standings. They have a five-point lead over the third-place team, the San Jose Barracuda (SJ).

Up Next:

The Eagles now head to a Bakersfield for a matinee game on Tuesday, March 3 against the Condors (EDM). Bakersfield is currently ranked fourth in the Pacific, six points behind the Eagles. AHLTV on FloHockey.com will stream the game.