Wild Second Period Leads to Eagles 4-3 Victory at Tucson
Jan 31, 2020
TUCSON, AZ. – The Colorado Eagles and Tucson Roadrunners combined for seven goals in the second period, including four goals coming via specialty teams, as the Eagles defeated the Roadrunners 4-3 on Friday. Forward Martin Kaut notched a goal and an assist in the win, while fellow forwards Michael Joly, Sheldon Dries and Jayson Megna also found the back of the net for Colorado. Goaltender Hunter Miska earned the victory in net, making 28 saves on 31 shots.
The first period saw Colorado go 0-for-2 on the power play, while the Roadrunners failed to connect on their lone opportunity on the man-advantage and the two teams would head to the first intermission with the contest still scoreless.
Things would break wide open in the second period, as Dries would capitalize on an early power play by deflecting a shot into the back of the net. The tally was Dries’ team-leading 16th goal of the season and gave Colorado a 1-0 edge just 1:50 into the middle frame.
The Eagles would strike again 2:12 later when Kaut bashed home a rebound to push Colorado’s advantage to 2-0. The lead would expand just over a minute later when Joly created a turnover in his own zone and went sprinting down the ice. Joly would beat Tucson goalie Ivan Prosvetov with a wrister from the slot and put the Eagles on top 3-0 at the 5:06 mark of the second period.
The tide would then turn dramatically, as the Roadrunners would stage a furious rally. The scoring started for Tucson when forward Michael Bunting collected his own rebound on top of the crease and fed it into the back of the net. The goal would get Tucson onto the scoreboard and trim Colorado’s lead to 3-1 at the 6:41 mark of the second stanza.
A Roadrunners power play just minutes later would set up forward Tyler Steenbergen to deflect a shot past Miska to slice Colorado’s advantage to 3-2 with 7:51 left to play in the period.
Tucson would find itself back on the man-advantage and again the Roadrunners would take advantage, as defenseman Aaron Ness buried a shot from the top of the left-wing circle to tie the game at 3-3 at the 14:15 mark of the second period.
The Eagles would finally swing the momentum when Megna flipped the script on a Tucson power play by snapping a shot from the top of the right-wing circle into the back of the net to put Colorado back on top 4-3 with 2:14 remaining in the middle frame. The Eagles would outshoot the Roadrunners 20-7 in the period and carry their 4-3 edge into the second intermission.
The final frame would see Tucson outshoot Colorado 11-6, but Miska and company would lock things down defensively to walk away with the 4-3 victory. The Eagles outshot the Roadrunners 38-31 in the contest, as Colorado finished 1-for-5 on the power play while Tucson netted a pair of goals on five opportunities on the man-advantage.
The Eagles return to action when they take on the Tucson Roadrunners on Saturday, February 1st at 7:05pm MT at Tucson Arena in Tucson, Arizona.
Tickets for all regular season contests are on sale now and can be purchased at ColoradoEagles.com or by calling (970) 686-SHOT.
