Magnificent Megna Lifts Eagles in Saturday Shootout

Milwaukee would respond before the period was out, though. After the first penalty of the game was allotted to Colorado’s Keaton Middleton, the Admirals utilized their fourth-ranked power play. Milwaukee left winger Egor Afanasyev zipped a pass cross-ice to right winger Rocco Grimaldi, who wristed one by Colorado goalie Justus Annunen to tie the game, 1-1, at 17:09 of the first.

PERIOD TWO

The Eagles answered back early on in the second frame of play. As Colorado forward Kiefer Sherwood protected the puck upon zone entry, a streaking Shane Bowers came striding into Ads territory. Receiving the puck in stride, Bowers fired a shot on net. The puck then deflected off of a Milwaukee defender, careening past an attempted glove save from Cooley. The tally made it 2-1 Eagles at 5:54 of the second.

A pair of cross checking penalties against Milwaukee gave Colorado a 5-on-3 advantage little over halfway through the middle regulation stanza. During this, Gross hit a wide open Jayson Megna for a one-timer from the left wing faceoff circle. Megna dropped to one knee on the slap shot, harnessing some extra power to fire the puck by a sprawling Cooley at 12:22 of the second for Colorado’s only power play goal on the night.

The Admirals decided to be the final team to score in the second period. A long outlet pass from defenseman Josh Healey to winger Grant Mismash resulted in a slap shot past Annunen and the Eagles lead cut to one (3-2) at 17:04 of the second segment of play.

PERIOD THREE

The third period brought with it an Eagles major penalty from forward Dalton Smith. Colorado did well to kill off all but 10 seconds of the five-minute boarding major, including a number of shorthanded chances. But, after a Grimaldi shot and rebound off Annunen’s right side, Ads captain Cole Schneider drove it home from one knee to tie the game up at 3-3 at 11:18 of the final regulation frame.

Colorado Head Coach Greg Cronin commented: “Tonight, I thought we were good again (on the penalty kill). There was a breakdown on the first power play, and then we killed four minutes and fifty seconds (before a) guy scored a goal a foot from the goal line, and we had a 2-on-0 and a 3-on-1. We’ve been talking about running the penalty kill and the routes the right way, and we’ll get our chances & our stops. I think we’re heading in the right direction.”

OVERTIME AND SHOOTOUT

The struggle that began regulation was echoed into overtime, as the Eagles and Admirals took all five minutes without deciding a winner. In the shootout, a fruitless first round for both teams yielded a David Ferrance goal for the Ads in the second round. In as many times in consecutive nights, it was up to Gross to keep Colorado’s hope for a second point alive. He delivered a five-hole shot that dribbled beyond Cooley’s pads forced another round of shootout attempts. As Mismash shot wide of Annunen, Megna lined up fourth in the shootout for the second night in a row. And, just like the previous night, Megna delivered the game-winning tally, this time in the form of a sweeping forehand to backhand beauty.

“We’ve been talking about trying to mature as a group and find some leadership in the room that’s going to provide that stability when the game’s in a see-saw,” stated Coach Cronin. “We’ve been in these battles – we’re up a couple goals, we’re tied, and then come back and win. When you go through these games and there’s a lot of stress like that, it’s good in the long run because guys can learn how to manage it.”

DID YOU KNOW?

After Saturday’s victory, Colorado netminder Justus Annunen became the league leader in shootout wins (4). Two of those SOWs came against Milwaukee this past weekend, one came at Texas on November 12, and one at Tucson on January 8. Annunen is also tied for the league lead in shootout losses (2), as the Eagles have played the most shootouts in the AHL so far this season (7).

UP NEXT…

Colorado wins their fifth straight game by a score of 4-3, moving into fourth place in the Pacific Division a .001 percentage point ahead of fifth-place Bakersfield. The Eagles will remain in Loveland this coming weekend, welcoming the Iowa Wild to the Budweiser Events Center on Friday, January 21 and Saturday, January 22.