The Colorado Eagles bought themselves some insurance for exactly this situation.
They secured home ice. They got ahead of the Chicago Wolves in the best-of-seven Western Conference Finals by taking two of three games on the road last week at Allstate Arena.
They missed on their first try Sunday night, a 3-2 home loss that denied them a trip to the Calder Cup Finals to meet the Toronto Marlies. Fortunately for the Eagles, they have another shot at this quest. Game 7 goes Monday night at Blue FCU Arena.
They have not recorded fewer than 39 wins in any of the last five seasons. This is a team that is always in contention for a lengthy playoff run, if not for the Calder Cup itself.
But past playoff letdowns have stung – and stuck with – the Eagles, especially on home ice.
Last season it was a gruesome 5-0 home loss to the Abbotsford Canucks that shut down their playoff run. Abbotsford also knocked out the Eagles in 2024 with an overtime loss at home. In 2023 came another season-ending 5-0 rout, that one against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The first year with the current Calder Cup Playoff format, 2022, brought some particularly bitter pain. After crushing the Ontario Reign, 10-1, to open the series, the Eagles went winless the rest of the way and went home.
Four years in the AHL means massive roster turnover, but players tend to stick with (or return to) the Eagles. They still have four members who played in that season-ending 2022 loss – defensemen Wyatt Aamodt, Jacob MacDonald and Keaton Middleton along with forwards T.J. Tynan and captain Jayson Megna. They have been there for some, or all, of these springtime disappointments.
Head coach Mark Letestu, who just came to the Eagles this season, quickly grasped that dynamic among the returnees on his roster. They built all season long to make themselves a playoff-ready team. That meant building good, sustainable habits rather than just getting by on their abundant talent.
They methodically handled the San Diego Gulls, Coachella Valley, and Henderson Silver Knights before facing Chicago, dropping just two games. Chicago has been a headache, however. Colorado dropped Game 1 at home and then needed a late Game 2 comeback to avoid the series getting out of hand. The Eagles are hardly the first team to struggle with Chicago. The Wolves knocked out the regular-season Western Conference champion Grand Rapids Griffins, a group that at one point had flirted with breaking several league single-season records.
Last Friday’s Game 5 seemed like it might have been a turning point in the series. The Eagles’ savvy and deep talent quite simply took over the second period that night in Chicago. Three Eagles goals in 2:58 included a pair of breakaways and sent the visitors on to a 7-3 blowout. Chicago standout goaltender Cayden Primeau took the loss in that game and then did not dress for Game 6. His status for Game 7 remains unknown.
It’s not that the Eagles’ play has dipped much in this series. They unleashed 38 shots on Primeau’s replacement, Amir Miftakhov, in Game 6. But home ice has been a problem. So has holding a lead on that very ice surface. And the Chicago power play has given Colorado trouble at times. In Game 1, a Chicago win in Colorado, all three Wolves goals came on the power play. The Eagles also surrendered a third-period lead, giving up quick strikes by Bradly Nadeau and Noel Gunler. Some of that same situation unfolded in Game 6. First, their 2-0 lead took a dent when Juuso Välimäki responded on the power play early in the second period. They then saw Chicago undo another third-period Colorado lead with goals 2:49 apart.
That can’t happen. This far into the Calder Cup Playoffs, even minor slip-ups can turn a game.
The Eagles get another chance Monday. They’ll see if that insurance saves them.
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