Eagles Upended by San Diego, 4-1
May 14, 2021
LOVELAND, CO. – San Diego scored the first three goals of the contest, as the Gulls raced to a 4-1 win over the Colorado Eagles on Friday. Four different skaters found the back of the net in the victory, while forward Mike Vecchione netted Colorado’s lone goal on the evening. San Diego was bolstered by goaltender Olle Eriksson Ek, who made 25 saves on 26 shots to earn his eighth win of the season in net.
An early power play for the Gulls would kick off the scoring, as forward Alex Limoges capped off a 2-on-1 rush by snapping a wrister from the bottom of the left-wing circle to light the lamp and give San Diego a 1-0 edge just 4:34 into the contest. The Eagles would fail to connect on a man-advantage of their own later in the period and the two teams would head to the first intermission with the Gulls still on top, 1-0.
San Diego’s advantage would grow when forward Bryce Kindopp fired a shot from the slot that would bounce off the left post and into the back of the net to stretch the Gulls lead to 2-0 at the 7:29 mark of the second period.
Less than two minutes later it would be forward Nikolas Brouillard who would jump onto the scoresheet when he sent a wrister from the right-wing circle that would deflect off of two different Eagles skaters and past Colorado goaltender Justus Annunen. The goal was Brouillard’s third tally of the season and put San Diego up 3-0 with 11:10 remaining in the middle frame.
Still trailing 3-0 to begin the third period, the Eagles would finally break through when Vecchione deflected a shot from the point past Eriksson Ek to cut San Diego’s lead to 3-1 at the 9:35 mark of the final frame.
Still down by a pair, Colorado would pull Annunen in favor of the extra attacker with just under three minutes remaining in the contest. The move would be spoiled by an empty-netter from forward Vinni Lettieri at the 17:49 mark to seal the Gulls 4-1 victory.
Colorado was outshot 28-26 in the contest, as the Eagles finished the night going 0-for-2 on the power play and 0-for-1 on the penalty kill. Annunen suffered the loss in his Eagles debut, surrendering three goals on 27 shots.
Colorado will return to action when the Eagles host the San Diego Gulls on Saturday, May 15th at 7:05pm MT. Fans can catch every game this season live on “The Home of the Colorado Eagles,” 92.9 The Bear or on AHLTV.
