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ECHL Colorado Eagles

Dramatic Rally Falls Short in Eagles 6-4 Loss at Alaska

January 1, 2017 - ECHL (ECHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


Dramatic Rally Falls Short in Eagles 6-4 Loss at Alaska
Dramatic Rally Falls Short in Eagles 6-4 Loss at Alaska
(Colorado Eagles)

ANCHORAGE, AK. - The Alaska Aces scored three goals in the first 6:46 of the contest and led by as many as four goals in the second period, but a valiant effort by a short-benched Eagles squad brought the game back to within one to start the third period, as Colorado fell to the Aces 6-4 on Sunday.

The Aces would waste little time in opening up the scoring, as forward Stephen Perfetto would field a drop pass on the rush at the top of the right circle and fire a wrister past Eagles goaltender Matt Skoff to give Alaska a 1-0 lead just 33 seconds into the contest.

Just over three minutes later, the Eagles would find themselves on a 5-on-3 penalty kill and a Colorado turnover in the Aces zone would lead to a 3-on-1 rush down the ice for Alaska, which forward Peter Sivak would finish with a shot from the circle to up Alaska's lead to 2-0 at the 4:02 mark of the first period.

The Aces would again light the lamp at the 6:46 mark, when forward Vladimir Nikiforov forced a turnover in front of the Eagles bench and raced into the Colorado zone, beating Skoff and growing the Alaska advantage to 3-0. The goal would signal the end of the night for Skoff, who would give way to Clarke Saunders.

Colorado would finally take a bite out of the Aces lead, as forward Matt Garbowsky notched his ninth goal of the season with a slapshot from the top of the right circle that bested Alaska goalie Lukas Hafner and trimmed the Aces advantage to 3-1 with 6:20 remaining in the first period.

Minutes later, Eagles forward Josh Nicholls would find himself on the receiving end of an open-ice hit from Aces defenseman Dax Lauwers, who would be booked for a five-minute major for charging on the play. Nicholls would exit the contest and did not return. The departure of Nicholls left the Eagles with just 13 healthy skaters for the remainder of the contest. Colorado could not capitalize on the major power play, however, and headed to the first intermission trailing 3-1.

Alaska would kick off the second period with another early tally, as Aces forward Tim Coffman would tap in a loose puck in the crease on the power play to extend Alaska's lead to 4-1 just 1:18 into the middle frame. That goal would be followed up by another Aces strike just minutes later when defenseman Nolan Descoteaux drove home a loose puck in front of the net to give Alaska a 5-1 advantage at the 5:40 mark of the second period.

Colorado would turn the tables 5:02 later when forward Shawn St-Amant scooped up a puck in the right circle on a 5-on-3 power play and snapped it past Hafner to cut the Aces lead to 5-2. Exactly four minutes later, St-Amant would deflect a shot from Garbowsky into the back of the net to slice the Alaska edge to 5-3.

The Aces would watch their big lead drop to just a single goal when rookie forward Kenny Brooks jammed a puck through the leg pads of Hafner for his first professional goal with only 13 seconds left in the second period, making it just a 5-4 Alaska edge.

Heading into the third period, a Colorado turnover deep in the Eagles zone would lead to shot from the slot from Coffman that would beat Saunders and put the Aces up by a count of 6-4. Colorado would pull Saunders in favor of the extra attacker, but would not be able to solve Hafner again, as Alaska would hold on for the 6-4 victory.

The Eagles return home to open up a three-game series against the Orlando Solar Bears on Friday, January 6th at 7:05pm MT.

Season tickets for the 2016-17 season are on-sale now and can be reserved with a $50 deposit per seat by calling the Eagles ticket office at 970-686-SHOT (7468). A complete schedule can be found at www.ColoradoEagles.com.

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Dramatic Rally Falls Short in Eagles 6-4 Loss at Alaska
Dramatic Rally Falls Short in Eagles 6-4 Loss at Alaska
   



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