Colorado finished off its trip to Tucson with the kind of win that travels well: timely scoring, a clean penalty kill, and another big night from Tristen Nielsen. His two goals, including the game-winner, powered the Eagles past the Roadrunners 5-3 on Sunday and completed the two-game sweep.
Nielsen set the tone early, blasting home a one-timer from the bottom of the right-wing circle just 6:47 into the game to put Colorado ahead 1-0. The Eagles stretched that lead later in the first when Nikita Prishchepov cleaned up a loose rebound near the crease and tucked it in for a 2-0 edge with 5:11 left in the period.
Tucson answered before the intermission. Montana Onyebuchi scored from the blue line at 18:36, pulling the Roadrunners within 2-1 after Colorado had controlled much of the opening frame and held a 15-10 shot advantage.
The Eagles pushed the margin back to two early in the second period. Maros Jedlicka parked himself at the top of the crease and finished a centering pass to make it 3-1 at 5:04. Tucson then came up empty on a 5-on-3 power play, but Kevin Rooney got the Roadrunners back within striking distance anyway, snapping home a wrister from the left-wing circle with 52 seconds left in the period.
That set up a tense third, and Tucson tied it quickly. Vadim Moroz beat Nikita Novoselov with a wrister just 2:58 into the final frame to make it 3-3.
Colorado had the answer. Nielsen took off on a breakaway and slipped the puck through Jaxson Stauber’s five-hole at 11:42 to restore the Eagles’ lead at 4-3. Tucson pulled Stauber late for the extra attacker, but Taylor Makar finished it off with an empty-net goal with 1:06 remaining.
Domenick Fensore picked up three assists for Colorado, while Novoselov earned his first AHL win in his debut with 20 saves on 23 shots. Stauber took the loss after allowing four goals on 30 shots. Colorado went 0-for-5 on the power play and was perfect on four Tucson penalty kills.
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Jared Bednar sees the same upside, but he also knows the risk that comes with it. The Avalanche coach said LHeureux can learn to play with bite without crossing the line, pointing to Nazem Kadri as an example of how a player can keep the fire while cleaning up the consequences. The challenge now is less about whether LHeureux can bring energy than whether he can harness it, because Colorado needs that presence on the ice far more than it needs another discipline problem on the ledger. [Read more 🡒]