LOVELAND, Colo. – In a much different game than the previous contest, the Colorado Eagles hung six goals on the Idaho Steelheads on Sunday night in game two of the division finals in pursuit of the Kelly Cup.
Eagles forward J.C. Beaudin got things started on the scoreboard with a wrist shot that beat Desrosiers cleanly at 5:12 of the opening period. Nicholas Meloche assisted on the goal.
Beaudin #8 and his lineys celebrate his first goal
Things really started to heat up for the Eagles in the second frame – beginning with some great defensive work on the power play which kept the Steelheads off the scoreboard, despite having a long 5-on-3 advantage and a few other opportunities they were unable to capitalize on.
Ryan Olsen pushed the lead to 2-0 on the power play for the Eagles at 12:24 of the second period, followed by a Shawn St-Amant putback of his own shot less than two minutes later to make it a 3-0 advantage for the home team.
Shawn St-Amant scored two goals in game 2
With 2:14 left in the middle frame St-Amant scored again on a power play opportunity aided by the pinpoint passing of Eagles Defenseman, Matt Register. The score at the end of two periods was 4-0.
After giving up four goals in the first two periods, Idaho goalkeeper, Phillipe Desrosiers, was pulled to start the third period in favour of Tomas Scholl who surrendered two goals on the ten shots he faced.
Matt Register #43 was everywhere on the ice in Gm. 2
In the final frame, the Steelheads found some life at the 3:40 mark when Max French tipped the puck past Joe Cannata for a 4-1 game still heavily in favour of the Eagles.
With just two and a half minutes left in the game, French would score again to cut the Eagles lead in half at 4-2. Colorado responded 17-seconds later, while Idaho was trying to get Scholl out of the net for an extra attacker, Beaudin put the puck in the partially open net for a 5-2 lead.
Eagles Captain, Matt Garbowsky, had the last word with his stick to restore the four-goal lead for a 6-2 win for the Eagles and a two games-to-none series lead in the division finals.
The Eagles and Steelheads meet again Wednesday, May 2nd at 7:10 P.M. MT for Game three at Century Link Arena in Boise, Idaho.
Article and photos courtesy of terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com.
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