Special Teams Struggle In Eagles’ Loss

Photo Credit: Calgary Wranglers

The Colorado Eagles took on the first-place Calgary Wranglers last night in a division showdown.

After going into overtime on Friday night, the Wranglers looked to take care of business early. The Eagles would have to get past the second-best goalie in the league in Dustin Wolf and his 2.14 GAA and .931 save percentage.

Special teams would make the difference in the game for the Eagles last night as they struggled to keep the Wranglers at bay. 

First Period

The Wranglers came on strong and managed to get a goal just one minute and thirty-two seconds into the game. Colorado was trying to come out of their own zone and was checked off the puck in the neutral zone. Jeremie Poirier picked it up and skated into the Calgary zone to reset the play while looking for a pass. Radim Zohorna started screaming up the middle and received the pass from Poirer as Cole Schwindt joined him on the wing. Both Wranglers started towards the net and Zohorma found a seam to get the puck to Schwindt who nailed over the leg of goaltender Jonas Johansson. 

Struggling On Special Teams

A missed pass by the Eagles on the power play led to the Wranglers’ second goal. Ilya Solovyov gained possession behind the Calgary net and waited for a change. Clark Bishop was on the right end of a stretch pass by Solovyov, as he went into the Eagles’ zone untouched. Bishop took a nasty backhand shot from the right-hand circle that snuck between Johansson’s legs to make it 2-0. Poirier once again led the charge as Anton Blidh had put Calgary on the power play. Poirer sent a stretch pass to Matthew Phillips and he would enter the zone. Spencer Smallman was run into and dropped his stick, taking away a defender. Phillips sent a cross-slot pass over to Emilio Pettersen snapping it home for his fiftieth of the year and a 3-0 lead.

Second Period

The Eagles started to look a lot better in the second period, tightening up their defense and being more aggressive offensively. With about 11:35 left in the period Calgary were deep in the Eagles’ zone. As they were forced to the corner, the only thing they could do was take a bad-angle shot on Johansson. The rebound went off to the right circle and was picked up by Callahan Burke. As pressure came down on Burke he passed it up to Sampo Ranta. The winger sped through three defenders for a backhand shot on Wolf to get the Eagles’ first goal of the night. As the Wranglers were on another power play, Walker Duehr took a shot from the right circle. The shot missed and was picked up by Connor Zary, who walked in on the left circle unopposed. Calgary ends the period 4-1.

Third Period

Right as the period started, Charles Hudon sprung into the Calgary zone while getting tackled. He managed to get the pass off to Smallman as he went to the front crease. Hudon took the puck back and shot it off of the skates of a Wranglers’ player and into the open net. Another power play chance for the Wranglers produced yet another goal. They set up in the Eagles’ zone and circled the puck around. Phillips saw a chance from the point and got a deflection off of Mitch McLain’s skate and it dribbled over the goal line to extend the lead 5-2. With just 27 seconds left the Wranglers took a shot on goal and Wyatt Aamodt picked up the rebound. He threw it off the boards to Burke who outran everyone to chip it over Wolf’s leg pad. The eagles couldn’t fight back and lost 5-3.

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Conclusion

The enemy for the Eagles last night was their special teams. They gave up three power play goals and one short-handed goal in last night’s loss. Had they tightened up the defense, the Eagles would have had a chance to win the game. They spent way too much time in the box as Calgary had eight total opportunities through the night. Colorado will play again on Friday when they meet the Abbotsford Canucks in Loveland, Colorado