Eagles Win 4th Straight, Top Barracuda 4-3 in OT
Feb 8, 2020
LOVELAND, CO. – The Colorado Eagles scored three power play goals, including a pair from forward Sheldon Dries, as the Eagles erased a 2-0 deficit to defeat the San Jose Barracuda 4-3 in overtime on Saturday. Forward T.J. Tynan collected three assists in the winning effort, while defensemen Conor Timmins and Jacob MacDonald each notched two assists. The win was Colorado’s fourth consecutive victory and now ties the Eagles with Stockton for second place in the AHL’s Pacific Division.
San Jose would jump out to an early lead when forward Joachim Blichfeld skated through the top of the right-wing circle before snapping a shot into the back of the net to put the Barracuda on top 1-0 only 7:00 into the contest.
Just over nine minutes later, San Jose defenseman Keaton Middleton would pounce on a rebound in the slot and blast it past Eagles goaltender Hunter Miska to stretch the Barracuda’s advantage to 2-0 with 3:57 remaining in the first period.
Still down 2-0 to begin the second period, Colorado would take advantage of an early power play as forward Martin Kaut would tip shot past San Jose goalie Josef Korenar to slice the deficit to 2-1 just 1:35 into the middle frame.
The Barracuda would generate an answer off a power play of its own when forward Antti Suomela tucked a loose puck at the side of the net past Miska to give San Jose a 3-1 advantage at the 7:17 mark of the second stanza.
The Eagles would steal the momentum back when defenseman Mark Alt weaved his way through the slot before lighting the lamp with a wrister to trim the Barracuda’s lead to 3-2 with 4:55 remaining in the second period.
Another Colorado power play would set up Dries to redirect a shot into the back of the net and tie the game at 3-3 at the 16:47 mark of the second frame.
The third period would see San Jose outshoot the Eagles 11-9, but both goaltenders would rise to the occasion and force a sudden-death overtime with game still deadlocked at 3-3.
Suomela would be booked for holding just 2:58 into the extra session and Colorado would capitalize, as Dries would lunge across the side of the crease and slam home a rebound to secure the 4-3 victory for the Eagles with 1:06 remaining in overtime.
Colorado finished the evening going 3-for-8 on the power play, while the Barracuda would net one goal on four opportunities on the man-advantage. Miska earned his fifth straight win in net, stopping 29 of the 32 shots he faced, as the Eagles outshot San Jose by a final count of 35-32.
The Eagles return to action when they host the Tucson Roadrunners on Tuesday, February 11th at 7:05pm MT at the Budweiser Events Center.
Tickets for all regular season contests are on sale now and can be purchased at ColoradoEagles.com or by calling (970) 686-SHOT.
