Eagles Takeaways: Colorado comes back home energized in 4–2 victory

5 days ago  /  Mile High Hockey

Ashley Potts/ Colorado Eagles


The Colorado Eagles beat the Grand Rapids Griffins 4–2 on Friday night at Blue Arena. The Colorado Eagles returned home after a long weekend in Abbotsford, where they lost both games in the series. Colorado began a four game home stand beginning with hosting the Grand Rapids Griffins (DET). This is only the second season that the two teams have played each other, playing four games in total last year. The Griffins were on a bit of a slide, losing three of their last five games. Colorado had won their last three home games. Both trends continued and as they felt more energized with the home cooking, the Eagles took home a 4–2 victory in the first match.
Takeaways
The Eagles started the game the complete opposite of the way they did in Abbotsford. They started the game with a ton of energy and pressure in the Grand Rapids zone. Last weekend, the Eagles had trouble getting their feet moving, tonight there was no trouble at all.
Nikita Prishchepov has been nothing but impressive this season. He earned himself a contract out of camp after the draft this summer. He has now played 13 games with the Eagles and 10 games in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche. His physical play and speed have kept him at the top of the call up list for the Avalanche all season. Just tonight, he beat three opponents to the corner from two zones away. He then took the punishment while battling for the puck. It is performances like that which have made him a standout rookie this year.
“My weakness all my life was my legs,” Prishchepov said. “And I started realizing in Canada that if I want to play pro, I gotta work on my legs. I gotta try to be faster, because the pro hockey is faster. I mean, the AHL is faster than junior, and then NHL is faster than AHL. So my dream is to play NHL, you know? So I just trying to do everything to achieve that.”


A bloop goal opens the scoring for the night with the shot from TJ Tynan. Assists from Bradley and Aamodt #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @MileHighHockey pic.twitter.com/CTwUpQ1vdz— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) December 14, 2024




T.J. Tynan, who had a stint with the Avalanche earlier in the season, scored three points tonight. Tynan opened up the first with a goal and then returned the favor to Chase Bradley with an assist in the second. Seven minutes later, Tynan helped the Eagles convert on the power play, their first in three games.


TJ Tynan converts on the PP for his second of the night and his third point tonight. Innala and Megna on the assists. #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @MileHighHockey pic.twitter.com/q7xRg7y2pB— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) December 14, 2024




Jean-Luc Foudy returned from the injured list tonight. He has only played five games before tonight and had been out because of the injury since November 16. Foudy made an immediate impact on the game. His forechecking pressure and speed made the Griffins nervous to have the puck. Foudy’s speed helped Bradley with his goal and tallied his second point of the season. The Eagles are a better team when Foudy is healthy.
“He (Foudy) came back into the lineup, and he was part of that first goal and got the puck in deep, got in on the forecheck, created a scrum win for us that resulted in TJ’s first goal,” said head coach Aaron Schneekloth of Foudy. “So still a work in progress. He’s missed some time, got to get him up and running, but good start for him to get on the ice against a very good team and get his timing back. Yeah, it was only a sixth game this season. So he’s got a ways to go to. We know where we want him to be and where he wants to be as well. So it’s good that he’s back, and he’ll get some games before the break.”


I missed the goal due to technical issues, but Bradley and Foudy with a give and go to put the Eagles up in the second! Bradley with the finish and Tynan with the secondary assist. #Avs #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry @MileHighHockey pic.twitter.com/DClCmXgb58— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) December 14, 2024




Upcoming
The Eagles will be back at Blue Arena tomorrow night at 7 p.m. to wrap up the series against the Grand Rapids Griffins. It will also be the annual Teddy Bear Toss game.

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