Colorado Eagles/Avalanche goaltender Trent Miner (50) in a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Ball Arena. (Source: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images)The Colorado Eagles beat the Coachella Valley Firebirds 3-0 to go up 1-0 in the Pacific Division Finals.
Colorado heavily outshot Coachella Valley in the first two periods.
In the first frame, the Eagles put up twice the shots that the Firebirds did at 12-6 including the first six of the game. Yet, Colorado could not break the ice going into the first break.
In the second period, the Eagles widened the shooting differential at 13-4 and with the heavy shot volume finally scored not one, but two goals - first was the game-winner when forward Ronnie Attard sniped from the high slot past Firebirds goalie Nikke Kokko. The second goal came about when Colorado forwards Taylor Makar and TJ Hughes double-teamed Coachella Valley defenseman Ville Ottavainen with Hughes taking advantage of the 2-on-1 situation and scoring past Ottavainen and Kokko to go up 2-0 into the second intermission.
The Firebirds managed to outshoot the Eagles 10-7 in the final period, but still could not find the back of the net even once, giving Colorado and their goalie Trent Miner a 20-save shutout win.
Coachella Valley goalie Kokko made 29 saves off 31 shots for a save percentage of 0.935.