Jayson Megna scored twice in the first period and Colorado withstood a Henderson push in the final frame to claim a 5-2 victory in Game 1 of their Pacific Division first round series on Wednesday night.
Game 2 is set for Friday in Loveland with the host Eagles looking to close out the best-of-three series.
Megna, the Colorado captain, opened the scoring just 31 seconds into the game and tacked on a shorthanded marker at 16:55, the ninth and 10th goals of his Calder Cup Playoff career.
That 2-0 lead held up until the Silver Knights began mounting a comeback in the third period, starting with Paul Cotter’s goal at the 3:02 mark.
Jean-Luc Foudy restored Colorado’s two-goal lead two minutes later, but Henderson got back to within 3-2 when Sven Baertschi scored with 11:39 to play.
The Eagles then successfully killed off a Silver Knights power play, and put the game away with empty-net goals from Mikhail Maltsev and Kiefer Sherwood.
Martin Kaut, Roland McKeown and Dylan Sikura all had two assists for Colorado, and Justus Annunen made 22 saves for the win.
Jiri Patera finished with 32 saves for Henderson, including stopping all 18 shots he faced in the second period.
Pacific Division First Round – Series “F” (best-of-3)
P3-Colorado Eagles vs. P6-Henderson Silver Knights
Game 1 – Wed., May 4 – COLORADO 5, Henderson 2
Game 2 – Fri., May 6 – Henderson at Colorado, 9:05
*Game 3 – Sat., May 7 – Henderson at Colorado, 9:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
