BOISE, Idaho – After the previous game’s physical and emotional come from behind, at the last second, overtime playoff victory, it would not have been unexpected to see a drop in energy and focus while playing another game a mere 24-hours later. But that is not what this Eagles team is about.
Right out of the gate Colorado came out skating and grabbed a two-goal lead in the first six minutes of play and  never looked back until the final buzzer.
20-year-old rookie Julien Nantel used his speed to convert on a 2 on 1 with Ryan Harrison at 1:42 of the opening period to get the scoring started.
Julien Nantel
Luke Salazar scored his first Playoff goal at the six minute mark with a slap shot goal on a power play opportunity to give the Eagles the quick two-goal cushion.
With 11:17 left in the period, Cam Maclise batted a pass from Matt Register into the Idaho net for his first of two goals on the night.
Idaho would cut the lead back to two with a power play goal off the stick of Travis Walsh with 56-seconds left in the first period.
Next up for the Eagles was Maclise again, who surprised Brandon Komm with a five hole goal from in close to regain the three-goal Colorado advantage.
Joe Basaraba
Idaho answered back with two tallies to cut into the Eagles lead when Joe Basaraba grabbed the puck off a face off win and slammed it past Hafner at 10:55. A few minutes later Kyle Jean scored from in tight on a scramble around the net to bring the home team to within one goal at 4-3.
Less than a minute after Jean closed the gap for Idaho, previous game hero, Alex Belzile, got on the scoreboard with a shot almost identical to last night’s overtime game-winner. It was a shot  from a tough angle that went over the shoulder of the netminder to restore the two-goal lead.
In the final frame, with Komm pulled for the extra skater, Colorado’s Ryan Harrison scored into the empty net at 18:07 to account for the final score of 6-3 in the Eagles victory to close out the Kelly Cup Divisional Semifinals against the Idaho Steelheads winning 4-1 in the best-of-seven series.
Colorado was outshot 25-37 by the Steelheads, but scored twice on three power play
Lukas Hafner
chances to Idaho’s one goal in their six chances.
Eagle Goalie Lukas Hafner stopped 34 of 37 shots for the win.
Steelhead Goalie Branden Komm made 19 saves on 24 attempts in the loss.
The Colorado Eagles move on to face the Allen Americans in the second round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs in the Mountain Division finals starting on April 27th in Allen, Texas.
Article and Photos courtesy of Terry Sanford for prohockeynews.com
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