ECHL Colorado Eagles

Garbowsky Nets Five-Point Night as Eagles Thrash Idaho

January 14, 2017 - ECHL (ECHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


Garbowsky Nets Five-Point Night as Eagles Thrash Idaho 9-3
Garbowsky Nets Five-Point Night as Eagles Thrash Idaho 9-3
(Colorado Eagles)

BOISE, ID. - Colorado Eagles forward Matt Garbowsky notched three goals and two assists, collecting his second hat trick of the season, en route to a 9-3 Eagles win over Idaho on Saturday. Colorado's nine goals set a new season-high for the team, as five Eagles skaters posted multi-point games and 11 Eagles appeared on the final scoresheet. Clarke Saunders claimed the win in net, stopping 20 of Idaho's 23 shots on net.

The Eagles grabbed their first lead of the three-game series when forward Mitch Holmberg took a pass between the circles and wired it past Steelheads goaltender Philippe Desrosiers to give Colorado the 1-0 edge with only 5:33 gone in the first period.

Garbowsky would add to that lead when he stuffed in a one-touch shot in the low-slot to light the lamp and make it 2-0 Colorado with 10:00 gone in the first period. Just 3:17 later, forward Casey Pierro-Zabotel would deflect a shot from Jake Marto from the point past Desrosiers for his team-leading 42nd point of the year, giving Colorado the 3-0 lead. The Eagles would outshoot the Steelheads 17 to six in the first 20 minutes of play.

Idaho would cut into Colorado's lead early in the second period when forward Anthony Luciani tracked down a loosed puck at the bottom of the left circle and beat Saunders with a backhander to trim the Eagles advantage to 3-1 just 2:02 into the middle frame.

Colorado would respond on the team's first power play of the night when forward Josh Nicholls fielded a cross-slot pass and snapped it into the back of the net to extend the Eagles lead to 4-1 at the 7:55 mark of the second period. The success on the man-advantage would continue for Colorado, as Holmberg would backhand a rebound on top of the crease past Desrosiers on the power play to give Colorado the 5-1 lead with 1:56 remaining in the second period of regulation.

The Eagles would keep their foot on the gas in the third period, as Garbowsky forced a turnover at center ice and raced into the Steelheads zone shorthanded, snapping the puck into the net to give Colorado a 6-1 lead just 1:09 into the period. Only 2:31 later, Garbowsky completed his second hat trick of the season when he fired a wrister from the slot to beat Desrosiers and make it a 7-1 Eagles advantage.

Sixty seconds after Garbowsky completed his hat trick, fellow forward Kenny Brooks laced a wrist shot into the back of the cage from the right circle to extend the Colorado lead to 8-1 with less than five minutes gone in the final period of play.

With 6:56 remaining in regulation and the Steelheads on the power play, forward Brandan Troock would grab the puck between the circles off the face off and rifle it into the Eagles net to trim the Colorado lead to 8-2.

The Eagles would respond with the club's second shorthanded tally of the night as Nicholls hustled down the slot off an Idaho turnover and lit the lamp with a wrister to make it a 9-2 Eagles advantage at the 14:29 mark of the third period.

Less than a minute later, Idaho forward Will Merchant finished a shot from the slot on the power play to give the Steelheads their third goal of the night, but Idaho would come no closer, as Colorado would defeat the Steelheads by a final score of 9-3.

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Garbowsky Nets Five-Point Night as Eagles Thrash Idaho 9-3
Garbowsky Nets Five-Point Night as Eagles Thrash Idaho 9-3
   



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