On Wednesday night, the Colorado Eagles and the San Diego Gulls (ANA) began the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs in Loveland. In 30 years, the Eagles have never missed the playoffs in multiple leagues. During the regular season, the Eagles were 5–1–0–2 against the Gulls, so they stand a decent chance of victory in the series. Like any playoff series, special teams would need to be the difference. They certainly stepped up in the 3–0 victory and took a 1-0 series lead.

First Period

The first period opened up to a tight defensive matchup. San Diego allowed only three shots on net by the Eagles in the first eight minutes. Meanwhile, Colorado allowed only one shot, and they had to fight hard for it. They played a disjointed game in the first half of the period. No one could gain any momentum until Keaton Middleton headed to the box for a roughing call. He brought Nathan Gaucher with him to make the game 4-on-4, but nothing came of it. Matt Basgall tripped up Gavin Brindley, and it put the Eagles on their first power play of the postseason. As the Eagles entered the zone in the last minute of the power-play, T.J. Hughes tossed the puck at the goaltender for T.J. Tynan to take a diving shot on. Colorado took a 1–0 lead into the intermission.

Second Period

As the middle period started, both sides started with four skaters aside thanks to matching minors from Roger McQueen and Middleton. But it did not take long for the Eagles to add to their lead. Tristen Nielsen picked up a rebound in his own zone and took off down the ice. He worked his way to the slot and beat Damian Clara on the top-shelf with a backhand shot. When Nikolas Brouillard went to the box for the Gulls, Colorado lost the puck and the Gulls got a breakaway, but they took out Trent Miner in a scary moment for the goaltender. Colorado had another chance on the power play but failed to convert the opportunity. The Eagles walked into the intermission, adding only nine additional shots on goal to the Gulls’ six and held a 2–0 lead.

Third Period

Both the Eagles and the Gulls came out firing in the third period. Colorado put the most pressure on the Gulls in the first five minutes. It included a breakaway from Chase Bradley right down the middle of the ice, and the puck nearly trickled over the goal line. Colorado held off the Gulls the entire period with little effort. Taylor Makar added an empty-net goal in the last minute of the third to put the nail in the coffin.

Takeaways

Colorado played some disciplined hockey. They gave San Diego only two power-play chances, but they killed them. On the other side of the puck, the Eagles converted on the power play. That has been an issue until the last game against Calgary, where they converted two of the seven chances. On Wednesday night, Colorado only scored once out of four tries, but they gained momentum from the goal by Tynan. The 18-save shutout by Trent Miner was his first career Calder Cup playoff shutout.

Up next

The Eagles and Gulls continue their best of three series on Friday at 7 p.m. in Loveland at Blue Arena. AHLTV on FloHockey.com will stream the game.