RAPID CITY, S.D. – A serious power outage on the power play lead to the Colorado Eagles surrendering their second of three chances to move on to the finals of the Ray Miron President’s Cup.
Not only could the Eagles not score on their nine power play opportunities, including two 5 on 3’s and a four-minute double minor, they gave up a 5 on 3 shorthanded goal – their first of the playoffs.
It did not start out as one of those nights as Scott May’s two tallies, one in each of the first two periods had the Eagles up 2-0 before the Rush got on the board at all.
Scott May%2C Tim Boron
May scored on Tim Boron from close in assisted by Kyle Peto and Adam Chorneyko at 6:09 of the first period to give the Eagles a 1 to 0 lead.
The first sign of power play woes for Colorado occured when Josh Beaulieu boarded May at 13:24 and Colt King, Kevin Harvey and Joe Grmaldi all too roughing penalties in the ensuing melee. The Eagles were unable to convert on the full 2 minutes of two man adavantage.
May scored shorthanded against Boron at 8:59 of the second frame, also assisted by Peto, to account for the 2 to 0 lead with about half of the game time expired.
Colt King%2C Andrew Penner
Later in the middle frame Gio Flaminio blasted the puck past Eagles goalie Andrew Penner to convert on the Rush power play at 16:41 to cut the Colorado lead in half.
Going in to period three the Eagles had over a minute left of a 4 minute power play from a high stick against Joe Grimaldi and a full 2 minutes power play time from a delay of game call against Dan MacIntyre to start the period.
Weselowski%2C Flamminio%2C Reaney
The one bright spot for the Eagles in the third period was Penner’s athletic stop on a Konrad Reeder’s penalty shot – the third of this series.
At 11:25 of the final period Derek Leblanc scored, what turned out to be the game winner, on a deflection off an Eagle’s defenseman’s stick to fool Penner.
The final result was three goals for Rapid City on 34 shots with Colorado garnering two goals on 26 shots.
Game 7 will be played Wednesday, May 11th at 6:35 P.M. in Rapid City, South Dakota
Contact the author/photographer at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
