Everyone has a routine during the weekends, especially hockey players. The Colorado Eagles had their routine thrown off when they played the Henderson Silver Knights for a day game. When they have to come to the rink earlier, everything becomes thrown off. The Eagles are in a fight for their playoff positioning, and the Silver Knights, who have been eliminated, did not want to make it easy for them by throwing off their routine. Colorado is in a battle to gain a better seed in the division and avoid the Calgary Wranglers in the opening round. Today would not be that day as they fell to the Silver Knights 4–1 and have to climb out of a hole tomorrow. Here are the takeaways from the loss in Henderson.
Takeaways
— The Eagles played outstanding as a team for the first ten minutes of the game. Then things fell apart. Jean-Luc Foudy sent the puck over to Sam Malinski, who then rifled it on the net, leaving a rebound. Spencer Smallman picked the loose puck up and the Eagles were ahead 1–0. At the ten-minute mark, Colorado led in shots on goal 11–4 and continued to apply pressure. Then the Silver Knight’s first goal came as a complete fluke, and it all fell apart from there.
Holland wins the draw while Foudy and Malinski work the puck towards the net. Spencer Smallman finishes the job. #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/WzCNWjomya
— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) April 6, 2024
This has to be one of the craziest goals I have ever seen 😳 #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @TheRinkColorado pic.twitter.com/Z4eHyyTunu
— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) April 6, 2024
— The blue liners had issues holding the line this afternoon, and it showed. Just three minutes after the fluke goal, a missed pass at the point led to a breakaway by Byron Froese and an easy backhand shot over a diving Ivan Prasvetov. There were many chances for the Silver Knights throughout the game like this, but this one put them ahead. The Eagles never scored after that.
backhand Byron breakaway 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/gJmYyBbvw1
— Henderson Silver Knights (@HSKnights) April 6, 2024
— Colorado had four chances on the power play and could not convert on any of the chances. Not that they didn’t have any opportunities. The puck just never saw the back of the net. In the first power play, Colorado did not get a shot on net until there were 15 seconds left in their chance. The second time around, their puck movement improved dramatically, but they only had two shots on goal.
Conclusion
The Colorado Eagles did not look like themselves after the first goal by the Silver Knights today. Something that was out of the ordinary hit a young team and did not know how to handle it. Colorado needs to get their even strength scoring back as three of their last four losses. They have only scored one goal each. Foudy coming back to the team should help, but the Colorado Avalanche having suffered some injuries on Friday, he could see a recall soon. The Eagles will be right back at it tomorrow afternoon as they wrap up the season series against the Silver Knights at 2 p.m.