Eagles Pad Lead With Physical, 4-2 Win Against Scorpions
LOVELAND, Colo. – Colorado expanded their lead in the Northwest Division to five points over the idle Rocky Mountain Rage with a 4-2 win against the New Mexico Scorpions. In a game in which it seemed the Eagles finished every check, both teams got some spectacular saves from their goaltender, but Colorado’s offense and physical play were just too much for the ’Scorps.
As is the case in this series, sometimes one team just has another’s number and Sebastien Laplante showed it yet again when he made arguably one of the greatest saves in Eagles history just over three minutes into the first. Laplante kicked out a rebound to his left and Konrad Reeder – the league’s third-leading scorer – was crashing the net and smacked the puck out of mid-air from the right lip of the crease. But Laplante had other ideas and was able to reach back and snare the puck with his glove to stymie the bang-bang play and keep New Mexico from getting an early burst of momentum. Instead, Colorado made it 1-0 at 7:19 with a power play goal when Ryan Tobler deflected a Greg Pankewicz shot past Mike Minard. Pankewicz stood at the point with the puck on edge before throwing a knuckler on net, where Tobler deflected it from right in front.
Scott Polaski and Riley Nelson teamed up to make it 2-0 at 11:17 of the opening frame when Polaski picked up a Scorpions turnover in the neutral zone and blazed into the offensive zone where he curled up along the right-wing boards. Polaski then sent the puck across the slot to Nelson who snapped it past Minard. New Mexico got a power-play goal of their own at 14:29 to trim the Eagles’ lead to 2-1 when Ross McCain sent a pass from low in the left circle to Dylan Row who was wide open between the right circle and the goal line.
The Eagles out-shot the Scorpions 19-11 in the second, but Minard made several big saves to keep them from adding to their lead. In fact, Row took it upon himself to tie the game at two when he picked up the puck at the right point in the Eagles zone and walked it into the low slot before beating Laplante with a forehand-backhand move at 15:49; Row had only one goal in 18 games played coming into the contest.
Colorado pulled away with a pair of goals in the third to account for the final margin. The first goal came 2:49 in after Ed McGrane caused a turnover behind the net and the puck found its way into the low slot. Seth Leonard collected the disc low in the right circle and hit Pankewicz in the slot where the veteran converted the chance. Laplante again made several strong saves in the third, shutting the door on any chance New Mexico had of coming back. Nelson added the fourth goal at 8:32 when he intercepted a pass in the high slot, and in one fluid motion, sent a laser top-shelf on Minard.
The Eagles have a chance to match their franchise-best record at home (28-4-0) with a win Saturday night against the Tulsa Oilers; the game will be aired on Altitude Sports & Entertainment. It will be their final home game of the regular season before playing three games next week in Youngstown.
