The Colorado Eagles proved their talent in earning their title as the Pacific Division Champions in the AHL. Now, they're battling in the Division Finals of the Calder Cup Playoffs against the Abbotsford Canucks to advance to the semifinals.
They dropped Game 1 to the Canucks on Friday night 2-0.
Despite allowing two goals on the night, Eagles goaltender Trent Miner came away from the night with the third star, sharing the podium with Canucks' goaltender Artūrs Šilovs (First) and forward Ty Mueller (Second).
Šilovs made 22 saves on the night, comparable to Miner's 22-save night on 23 shots against.
Abbotsford's first goal came on the power play in the second period, courtesy of second-star Mueller. Forward Sammy Blais peels off the boards and finds Mueller sitting between the face-off circles, who scores to put his team up.
Miner would stop every shot after that, but was pulled in the 3rd period with 1:11 to go in favor of the extra attacker. Canucks forward Victor Mancini would find the empty net with seven seconds to go in regulation, securing the game for Abbotsford.
Game 2 is set to take place on Sunday, May 18th. The Eagles will return to Loveland on Wednesday, May 21 to play the Canucks at home in Blue Arena.
The winner of this round of the Calder Cup Playoffs will be determined in a best-of-five series, meaning the first team to three wins will move on to the Conference Final and play the winner of the Texas Stars/Milwaukee Admirals series.
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