LOVELAND, Colo. – Although the Colorado Eagles did score the first goal of the game and held the lead through the first period of play, they could not carry the lead into the second intermission. In this playoff season, the Eagles succeeded in winning games where they were able to accomplish all three of these tasks. They did come within 1:06Â of carrying the lead into the second intermission, but Bobby Shea’s goal from between the circles changed the course and momentum of the game.
A crazy ricochet off the shoulder of Komets Goalie, Michael Houser, from Cliff Watson gave the Eagles the 1-0 lead with 58-seconds left in the first period. Ryan Olson and Julien Nantel were credited with the assists in that scoring effort.
Offense opened up in the middle period, with 16 shots from Fort Wayne and 11 shots from Colorado producing three combined goals from the two teams. The first was scored by Jamie Schaafsma with help from Shawn Szydlowski, beating Eagles Goalie Joe Cannata up high for the game-tying 1-1 goal at 14:13.
#27 Shawn Szydlowski 1st Star of the Game
Julien Nantel would put Colorado back in front at 18:21, assisted by Nicolas Meloche and Cliff Watson, to take a 2 -1 lead in the game.
#20 Julien Nantel 3rd Star of the Game
It was Fort Wayne’s Bobby Shea who had the last word in the middle period, as he answered Nantel’s goal with a beauty of his own 33-seconds later to tie the game at 2-2 heading into the second intermission.
Period three saw Fort Wayne playing a very defensive game after taking the lead early on and only allowing the Eagles to take three shots, despite their desperate attempts to at least force an overtime period.
Conversely, the Komets scored the only goal of the period at 4:57 when Jason Binkley’s cross-slot pass found Garret Thompson facing a wide open net, which he immediately took advantage of for a 3-2 lead that held up for the remainder of the game to notch the win and tie the series at three games apiece.
#48 Garret Thompson 2nd Star
A decisive Game seven will be played by these two worthy opponents on Wednesday, May 23rd at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 MT.
Article and photos courtesy of terry.sanford@prohockeysnews.com
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