Third Period Comeback Not Enough Again

LOVELAND, Colo. - The Colorado Eagles lost 4-3 to the Rocky Mountain Rage, enduring another loss in spite of a frantic third period comeback. The defeat marked the first time in the Eagles' six year history that the club has lost four regulation games in a row at home, and just the third time overall they've gone winless in four; Colorado has never lost five games in a row.

The Northwest Division foes played an even first period -- each registering 11 shots and going 0-2 on the power play -- but it was the Rage who got the lone goal. It came at 14:10, on a pretty play, when Simon Watson took the puck out of his own zone, carried it across the offensive blue line, beat Scott Polaski in the right circle and fed a pass through the low slot to Scott Wray crashing the left side of the crease.

The Eagles carried play for most of the second period but couldn't beat Scott Reid -- despite three power plays and an 11-6 edge in shots -- and in fact, trailed 2-0 after the second. Watson gave the Rage their second goal 3:13 into the period after a turnover along the right wing boards in the Eagles' zone. The Rocky Mountain center stepped away from the boards with the puck and walked in all alone on Andrew Penner before slipping the puck inside the left post.

Rocky Mountain made it 3-0 with a Nick Harloff goal from low in the left circle at 9:51 of the third after Penner blockered-aside a Butler slapshot from the point. But at 15:05, the Eagles broke out for a pair of goals within 28 seconds to make it a 3-2 game. The first came after Aaron Schneekloth broke in down the left wing, circled behind the net and tossed the puck into the low slot where Ed McGrane broke the shutout.

Kevin Ulanski assisted on the subsequent score when he sent the puck up the slot from below the goal line, left of the net, to Scott Polaski at the top of the circle. The defenseman was falling to his right and barely got enough on his cross-body shot that managed to slip inside the left post.

Then at 17:18, Rocky Mountain scored a fourth goal that was nearly identical to their first to seemingly stop the Eagles momentum and ice the game. But with just 50.7 seconds left, Schneekloth came down the left wing again and sent an airborne pass to Konrad Reeder who batted it behind the Rage netminder from the doorstep. Colorado would continue to press the envelope as the final seconds ticked off the clock -- including a 6-on-4 advantage near the end -- but couldn't tie the game.

The two teams will play the second game of their weekend set Saturday night at the Budweiser Events Center.