The game gets going quickly with Anaheim taking 3 shots on goal within the first 35 seconds of the first period.  None of the 3 find a home in the back of the net though and Colorado takes control and begins to push back.  A few shots ring close for both sides up until 3:39 when Henrik Osterman takes a minor penalty for high sticking that puts Anaheim on the Power Play for the first time.  Colorado managed to kill off 1:50 of the power play when Nick Connolly takes his 4th shot of the night, but it goes wide.   Anaheim forward Lallo Selman scoops up the puck near the boards, passes to defenseman Jerry Mander and he whips a quick wrist shot towards the net and sneaks it by Knox Booth for the first goal of the night and his 3rd for the year and closes the Power Play down with a goal.

Anaheim siezes the momentum and keeps the pressure on Colorado and Nick Connolly is able to bring home his 4th goal of the season only 2:24 later off of his own rebound extending Anaheim's lead.   1:30 later Georgy Gorbachenko takes a big hit from Jerry Mander and it seems to rattle his cage a bit.  Georgy is called for an Interference minor seconds later and puts Anaheim back on the Power Play.  The Outlaws fire off 7 shots on the Power Play but the Raptors PK held strong and kept the puck clear of the net.  The rest of the period is fairly uneventful and ends without anything else on the scorecard.

Stats after the first period:

Score:   Colorado Raptors 0  -  Anaheim Outlaws 2
Shots:   Colorado Raptors 3  -  Anaheim Outlaws 15


Anaheim came back to begin the second period carrying a lot of momentum and hoped to capitalize on this.  After 7 shots in the first 1:43 of the period Leonid Kofix buries one home at 1:45 to extend their lead to 3.  With a 3-0 lead and the home crowd going wild it looks like the Outlaws are going to run away with things.   There is still a lot of hockey left, but Knox Booth seems to be off of his game tonight.   Goalies are odd ducks and 3 unanswered goals can really shake a guy.  If this continues I wouldn't be surprised to see Low Temp come in and relieve him.

However, less than 1 minute later Colorado's Jake Peralta lays a hit on Gunnar Petrov and makes a quick pass to Lee Samson who begins an odd-man rush.   Just as he passes the Anaheim blue line he fakes a shot at net, makes a clean pass to Patrick Miller who takes a lay-up shot due to Niederreiter over committing to Samson's fake and puts Colorado on the board.  This is then followed by a questionable cross-checking call taken by Anthony Archer to put Colorado on their first Power Play of the night.   Coming off of the goal and now into a Power Play, they are hoping to take back the momentum and close the gap.  Colorado is relentless with the man advantage and Calogero Crudelli finds the back of the net at 4:37 to bring the score to within 1.

The remainder of the period is fairly uneventful other than Noah Tedla taking 2 different cross-checking penalties that Anaheim was able to kill off.   Colorado is clearly in Anaheim's head now and they are making terrible mistakes.   The 3rd period should be some good hockey.

Stats after the second period:

Score:   Colorado Raptors 2  -  Anaheim Outlaws 3
Shots:   Colorado Raptors 13  -  Anaheim Outlaws 21


Colorado is coming into the 3rd feeling good about the prior frame and wanting to get ahead in the final period of regulation.   The first 4 minutes were fairly uneventful with a few wide shots from both teams.   Then 4:25 in Ja'Aj Coitus-Wagg wins a face-off in the Colorado zone and quickly skates the puck to the Anaheim zone and fires off a beautiful shot at Patrick Niederreiter who manages a pad block.  Calogero Crudelli grabs the rebound and throws another shot at goal which Niederreiter is able to stop with a diving block with his left foot.     Coitus-Wagg is still putting the pressure on and with Niederreiter out of position is able to bring the puck top shelf and score the tying goal at 4:51.

With the game now tied both teams take varying pushes to try to get one up on the other.   Colorado had a good chance when Noah Tedla took his 3rd penalty for the night with a hooking minor at 6:07, but were unable to capatilize on the Power Play.  The remainder of the period was mostly uneventful and we are bringing the game into overtime.


Stats after the third period:

Score:   Colorado Raptors 3  -  Anaheim Outlaws 3
Shots:   Colorado Raptors 22  -  Anaheim Outlaws 29

Overtime

Since this is Simon's world, we play 4-on-4 OT here.  Both teams bring out their 4-on-4 squads and after 5 minutes of back-and-forth there is nothing new to report.   






Now for the Anaheim Outlaws we get Kevin Robinson.   Kevin comes in quickly and after a quick deke he's able to take the puck 5-hole on Booth.  Goal!
Next up for the Colorado Raptors is Bo Kane.   Bo puts on a high shot glove side, but it's snagged by Patrick Niederreiter.
Up by 1 shot, Anaheim sends in James Hendricks.   James tries for a bit of razzle dazzle, but is stopped by Knox Booth without much fanfare.
With the game riding on Colorado Raptors winger Vorian Atreides he comes through with a missile that goes wide of the net and leads his team to the locker room.


Final Score:




3 Stars of the Game:

1 - Jerry Mander   
2 - Calogero Crudelli 
3 - Nick Connolly