The Colorado Eagles on Tuesday proved it’s not how you start but how you finish that really matters.
Down 3-1 in the second period, the Eagles rallied with four unanswered goals to pick up a 5-3 road victory over the Wichita Thunder at INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
Emil Romig’s 10th goal of the season, assisted by Ryan Siiro and Ryan Harrison, came eight minutes into the second period and cut the Eagles’ deficit in half, sparking the streak of four straight goals for Colorado (33-13-4-2, 72 points). Ryan Olsen netted his 10th of the season less than a minute later to tie it at 3, followed by a go-ahead score by Brady Shaw in the final minutes of the second to give the Eagles their first lead of the night.
Shaw scored earlier i the game to get the Eagles on the board in the first period, a power play goal that knotted the game at 1 after Wichita’s Kevin Patterson’s first goal of the year gave the hosts the initial lead.
Nolan De Jong put home an empty netter in the final minute of the third period for his second goal of the season while Julien Nantel assisted on both of Shaw’s goals.
Eagles goalie Sam Brittain made 34 saves on 37 shots, including all 18 he faced in the third period, to outperform his counterpart, Wichita’s Nick Riopel, who allowed three goals in the span of 10 shots during Colorado’s second-period blitz.
Now six points up on Idaho for first in the Mountain Division, Colorado will look for a two-game series sweep over Wichita on Wednesday.
Eagles 5, Thunder 3
At INTRUST Bank Arena
Colorado131—5Witchita210—3
First Period — 1. Wichita, Patterson 1 (Butcher, Dufour), 5:34. 2. Colorado, Shaw 10 (Register, Nantel), 11:06 (PP). 3. Wichita, Dufour 16 12:45.
Second Period — 4. Wichita, Cuddemi 20 (MacMillan, Ewanyk), 6:37. 5. Colorado, Romig 10 (Siiro, Harrison), 7:20. 6. Colorado, Olsen 10 (Joly, Ratelle), 8:02. 7. Colorado, Shaw 11 (Bowman, Nantel), 18:10.
Third Period — 8. Colorado, De Jong 2 19:03 (SH EN)
Shots on goal — Colorado 32, Wichita 37.
Power Plays — Colorado 1/2, Wichita 0/1.
Goalies (shots-saves) — Colorado: Cantanna (37-34); Wichita: Riopel (31-27).
