The Colorado Eagles turned Saturday night into a track meet and came out on top, beating the Calgary Wranglers 6-4 in Loveland behind a season-high six-goal outburst.
Gavin Brindley and Tristen Nielsen each finished with three points, while Adam Beckman scored twice to pace Colorado’s attack. Trent Miner handled the rest, stopping 27 of 31 shots to earn the win as the Eagles leaned on a fast start and enough late answers to hold off Calgary’s push.
Colorado wasted no time setting the tone. Beckman opened the scoring just 22 seconds in, jamming home a loose puck in the crease for a 1-0 lead. The Eagles kept pressing, and at 11:10 of the first period Alex Gagne jumped into the rush, finishing a 3-on-1 with a shot from the slot to make it 2-0.
Beckman struck again before the period was over. After another battle around the net, he buried a rebound from the top of the crease with 7:56 left in the opening frame, pushing Colorado ahead 3-0 and ending Arsenii Sergeev’s night. Kirill Zarubin took over from there.
The first period also featured some edge, with Cooper Gay dropping the gloves with Calgary defenseman Axel Hurtig at 17:02.
Colorado came out firing again to start the second. On the power play, Brindley cut through the low slot and redirected a centering pass into the net just 17 seconds into the period, stretching the lead to 4-0.
Calgary finally got moving after that. Tyson Gross scored off a rebound during a delayed penalty at 7:05, Dryden Hunt followed with a wrister from the slot 1:45 later, and Rory Kerins made it a one-goal game at 16:12 by sliding a loose puck across the goal line. Just like that, a 4-0 cushion had shrunk to 4-3.
The Eagles answered early in the third when Nikita Prishchepov tracked down his own shot and tucked in the rebound 2:33 into the period for a 5-3 edge. Calgary kept hanging around, though, and Gross struck again on the power play, tipping a shot from the circle in front of the net past Miner to pull the Wranglers within 5-4 with 6:41 left.
That was as close as Calgary would get. The Wranglers came up empty on a late power play, then pulled Zarubin for an extra attacker. Brindley finished it off with an empty-net goal at 19:44 to seal the 6-4 final.
Zarubin took the loss, allowing two goals on 18 shots. Colorado went 1-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
In Other News...
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Jared Bednar has already labeled the injury long-term, though he stopped short of offering a return date, and LHeureux still has not resumed skating as he works through the recovery process off the ice. That leaves Colorado waiting for any sign of progress while the rest of the roster has to keep carrying the load. In a season where depth is always tested, this is one more absence the Avalanche would rather not be managing for long. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche May Have Found A Draft Gem With One Big Catch
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The catch is the same one that tends to follow skilled young defensemen with this kind of profile: Elofsson is undersized and still has work to do in his own end. Colorado clearly saw enough in the offensive package to take the swing, but his path to becoming more than a promising draft value will depend on whether he can round out the defensive side while continuing to produce at a high level. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Interest In Dylan Larkin Comes With One Huge Problem
The idea of Dylan Larkin in Colorado has enough appeal to keep circulating, but the practical hurdles are still doing most of the talking. Elliotte Friedman said a trade sending the Detroit Red Wings captain to the Avalanche is unlikely unless something major changes, and the reason is pretty straightforward: Colorado does not currently have the trade capital or the salary cap space to make that kind of move work.
For the Avalanche, that leaves the interest in Larkin more as a concept than a real transaction path for now. Detroit would also have to come down on its asking price, and until that happens, the fit remains more theoretical than realistic. It is the kind of rumor that makes sense on paper, but not in the current NHL marketplace. [Read more 🡒]