Johansson Gets Hammered In Eagles Loss

The Colorado Eagles took on the Ontario Reign on Tuesday night for the fourth time this season. They met for the third time in Loveland this year, with Colorado looking for their second win against Ontario. The Eagles also faced their former captain in T.J. Tynan, who has been one of the AHL’s most consistent players. Colorado struggled in its last game against the Reign, losing on December 2 by a score of 3-1. Jonas Johansson would get the crease for the Eagles, but would encounter an extremely difficult night in net.

First Period

The Eagles started strong right out of the gate as Josh Jacobs was able to score less than three minutes into the period. Jacobs caught a pass from Alex Beaucage at the top of the slot and ripped a wrister past Ontario goaltender Cal Petersen for the opening goal.

The Eagles were not able to generate much offense for the rest of the period, taking three straight penalties over the span of eight minutes. However, Colorado’s penalty kill was on fire, as it was able to kill all three infractions. The Eagles later would get their own chance on the advantage, but weren’t able to get a shot on goal.

Second Period

The second period started out strong once more for the Eagles. Jean-Luc Foudy dribbled the puck away from the nearside half boards into the mid-slot and snapped a wrister into the net. Less than three minutes later, T.J. Tynan took a cross-ice pass and whipped one past Jonas Johansson. Colorado responded with a hard-working goal as Keaton Middleton ripped a shot from the point that deflected off of Oskar Olausson’s stick and right off of Petersen for a Alex Galchenyuk rebound. 

After Galchenyuk’s goal is where the Reign started to turn things around and dominate the rest of the game. As the Eagles tried to kill off a 5-on-3 disadvantage, the Reign worked the puck around the edges and set up Samuel Fagemo for a monster one-timer goal. The next miscue by the Eagles came with 2:47 left in the period as Olausson was not able to handle a pass to him on the point. Austin Wagner sped off with the intercept and easily threw it past Johansson on the breakaway. The last goal of the period came only 11 seconds later. Alan Quine took a long pass into the zone as he led Fagemo in with him. Quine threw the puck across the ice and Fagemo gathered the pass to make a bad angle shot on Johansson. The puck slipped between Johansson’s legs to allow an uncharacteristic goal.

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Third Period

The last period was completely taken over by the Ontario Reign. The Eagles were just trying to get to the end of the game. As Jacobs went to retrieve the puck in his own zone and tried to pass the puck, Alex Turcotte stole it and got the puck right to Martin Chromiak in the middle slot. Johansson did not stand a chance as Chromiak backhanded it in. With 7:25 left and the Eagles on the power play, Turcotte forchecked on Galchenyuk hard to steal the puck and slip it in for a shorthanded goal. Roughly two minutes later, the Reign broke out of their own zone, forcing a 3-on-2 and an easy goal as Lias Andersson sealed it for the Reign. 

Conclusion

Penalties ended up killing the Eagles on Tuesday, with nine infractions giving the Reign eight power play chances. Ontario was only able to convert on one of those power plays, but the momentum of the game truly was in the Reign’s hands. Ontario controlled the flow of the game completely as Johansson had one of his worst outings this season. If the Eagles can stay out of the box tonight, that will make a huge difference in the flow of the game.

The Eagles were hammered with a7-3 loss, but they can bounce back as they take on Ontario again Wednesday night (7:05pm MST).