LOVELAND, CO. – San Diego trailed 5-3 with less than two minutes to play, but struck twice late in regulation to defeat the Colorado Eagles 6-5 in a shootout on Tuesday. Eagles forward Taylor Makar paced the offensive attack, notching a goal and two assists, while Gulls forward Sam Colangelo also ended the night with a goal and two helpers. Goaltender Trent Miner suffered the loss in net, allowing five goals on 32 shots.
Colorado would get out to an early start, as Makar sliced through the right-wing circle before cutting to the slot and lighting the lamp with a wrister, putting the Eagles on top 1-0 just 2:11 into the contest. Colorado would go on to kill off a pair of San Diego power plays and left for the first intermission still leading, 1-0.
San Diego would strike on the penalty kill, as forward Nathan Gaucher backhanded a loose puck in the low slot past goalie Trent Miner, tying the game at 1-1 at the 3:33 mark of the second period.
The Gulls would take a 2-1 lead just 1:12 later when forward Sam Colangelo buried a wrister from the right-wing circle. Colorado would use its timeout and shift the momentum, as defenseman Keaton Middleton lit the lamp with a shot from the blue line, knotting the score at 2-2 with 14:10 remaining in the middle frame.
The momentum would swing back when Gulls forward Matthew Phillips snagged a rebound at the top of the crease and tucked it home, putting San Diego in the lead 3-2 at the 8:00 mark.
The Eagles would generate a response just 40 seconds later, as forward Jack Ahcan beat goaltender Tomas Suchanek with a blast from the left point, tying the score at 3-3.
A power play would allow Colorado to jump back in the driver’s seat, as forward Alex Barre-Boulet drove down the end line before feeding a shot into the back of the net, giving the Eagles a 4-3 edge with 3:48 left to play in the second stanza.
Still leading 4-3 as the puck dropped on the third period, Colorado would get some late insurance when forward Ivan Ivan backhanded a shot from the low slot past Suchanek, giving the Eagles a 5-3 advantage with only 3:26 remaining in the contest.
San Diego would earn a power play and would pull Suchanek in favor of the extra attacker and the move would pay off. Defenseman Tristan Luneau took advantage of traffic in front of the net when he buried a shot from the point, slicing the deficit to 5-4 at the 18:12 mark.
The Gulls would again pull Suchanek and again light the lamp, as forward Sasha Pastujov hammered home a shot from the right-wing circle, tying the game at 5-5 with 33 seconds left to play.
In sudden-death overtime, Colorado would outshoot San Diego 4-0, but would not be able to best Suchanek, sending the game to a shootout.
The Eagles would get goals from Danil Gushchin and Tristen Nielsen in the shootout, but three of the Gulls four shooters would find the back of the net to give San Diego the 6-5 victory.
Suchanek earned the win in net, making 24 saves on 29 shots, as both teams finished 1-for-4 on the power play.