Chicago won the special teams battle in Game 1, giving them a 1-0 lead heading into tonight’s Western Conference Finals game in Colorado (8:05 ET, 
).
All five goals in the Wolves’ 3-2 win Thursday were scored on the power play, but Chicago got two successful penalties in the third period to secure the win and hand the Eagles their first loss of the season (6-1).
Chicago was 3 for 5 on the power play against a Colorado team that had 20 of 21 kills in its series against San Diego, Henderson and Coachella Valley. Justin Robidas (4-4-8), Bradley Nadeau (2-7-9) and Noel Gunler (2-1-3) drove the Wolves once Ryan Suzuki (4-6-10) had two assists as Chicago earned its sixth one-goal victory in the playoffs.
“We know our strength when we face this team,” said Gunler. “We will continue our game and I hope it will go well for us.”
Cayden Primeau (7-3, 2.28, .927) made 35 for the Wolves. Primeau is in the Calder Cup conference finals for the third time in five seasons after helping Laval get there in 2022 and 2025.
“It was a tough five-on-five game,” Primeau said after the first game.
Alex Barré-Boulet (4-5-9) and Tristen Nielsen (7-3-10) had the goals for the Eagles, who went 2-for-7 with the man advantage. After pitching a shutout in each of the Eagles’ last three games this postseason, Trent Miner (8-3, 1.42, .940) stopped 15 shots Thursday.
“I liked our start, I liked our energy,” the Eagles coach Mark Letestu told Hockey Mountain High’s Brennan Vogt. “We didn’t have the sharpest execution; maybe the sparkle was off (after) a little bit of the layoff. They have a dangerous game that they feel, and they made one more play on the power play than we did.”
First-team AHL All-Star defenseman Jack Ahcan returned to Colorado’s lineup after seeing action in three Stanley Cup Playoff games with the parent Avalanche, and assisted on both of the Eagles’ goals in Game 1.
“I thought he was rusty. He hasn’t played in a while,” Letestu admitted. “When he plays up there (in the NHL), he doesn’t play the kind of minutes he plays here.
“Like a lot of guys on our team – I feel like we’ll be ready for Game 2.”
Colorado needs a win tonight to avoid going 0-2 before the series heads to Chicago. Only eight teams in AHL history have won a best-of-seven series after losing the first two games on home ice.
