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ECHL Colorado Eagles

NHLers Help Aces Edge Eagles Again, 4-3

November 18, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Colorado Eagles News Release


ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Alaska Aces defeated the Colorado Eagles by a one goal margin for the third time in as many games this week, led by plenty of help from their three NHL players, Joey Crabb, Scott Gomez & Nate Thompson. The trio combined for six of the Aces' 11 points on the night, including their first three goals, helping build a lead that a late Colorado push couldn't quite match.

The first period was evenly played, with each team registering 10 shots, but the Aces were able to capitalize on one of their chances, while Colorado could not, leading to a 1-0 score at the first intermission.

The Eagles' top line provided an early surge, but was unable to bury the puck behind Mark Guggenberger, and as the play went the other way, Crabb finished off a 3-on-2 rush to open the scoring just under three minutes in. Colorado had a golden opportunity to counter midway through the period, but their top-ranked power play was unable to capitalize on a partial 5-on-3 chance against the Aces' third-ranked penalty kill.

Alaska doubled their lead 5:30 into the second period when Crabb and Thompson worked together to score a shorthanded goal. And just a minute and a half later, the other NHLer on the Aces' active roster, Gomez, made it 3-0 with a shot from the high slot.

Colorado finally got on the board at 12:39 when Trent Daavettila worked the puck out his own zone and all the way up the ice where Dylan Hood out-muscled Thompson in the low slot to deposit the puck past the Aces' goalie.

About two minutes later, Tyler Plante was replaced between the Eagles' pipes by Kyle Jones after suffering an injury earlier in the period. Jones was quickly put to the test when Nick Mazzolini extended his team lead in goals with a power-play marker off a one-timer from the right circle at 17:31 to make it 4-1.

The Eagles cut Alaska's lead to 4-2 at 6:48 of the final frame when Michael Forney forced a play along the end boards that resulted in Chad Costello finding Jack Combs alone in the low slot for a shot into the Aces' net.

Colorado really ratcheted up its offensive efforts in the final few minutes, and it paid off when Kyle Ostrow picked up his first goal as an Eagle with 52 seconds left. On the play, Collin Bowman kept the puck in the offensive zone and threw it on net from the point, resulting in a rebound into the slot for Ostrow to burry.

As the Eagles continued to push for the tying marker, Alaska was called for a penalty, giving the Eagles a 6-on-4 advantage (with the netminder pulled) for the game's final 16 seconds. Despite winning the faceoff in the offensive zone and swarming the net, however, Colorado couldn't come up with a fourth goal before time expired.

Colorado will return home to face the reigning ECHL champion Florida Everblades in a three game set at the Budweiser Events Center on Wednesday, Friday & Saturday. It will mark the Eagles' first ever games against a team from the ECHL's Eastern Conference.

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ECHL Stories from November 18, 2012


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