The Colorado Eagles withstood a furious late rally and pulled out a 6-4 win over the Ontario Reign on Friday night, finishing off their best-of-three series with a two-game sweep.
It is the third year in a row that the Eagles have ended the Reign’s season. Colorado is now 6-0 in postseason games against Ontario.
The Eagles got offensive contributions from 12 different skaters in Game 2 and went 2-for-2 on the power play as they built a 5-2 lead by the midway point of the third period.
But with goaltender Cal Petersen off for an extra attacker, the Reign scored twice in a span of 28 seconds to pull to within 5-4 with 1:26 to play. Colorado finally iceed the game on Cedric Pare’s empty-netter with seven seconds left.
Justus Annunen (2-0) made 30 saves on the evening for the Eagles, including stopping all 16 shots he faced in the second period.
Lias Andersson led the Reign with two goals and an assist in Game 2. Petersen (0-2) finished with 20 saves.
Colorado will meet either Coachella Valley or Abbotsford in the division semifinals.
Pacific Division First Round (best-of-3)
P3-Colorado Eagles vs. P6-Ontario Reign
Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 19 – COLORADO 3, Ontario 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 21 – COLORADO 6, Ontario 4
