All things being "equal," the Salt Lake Golden Eagles would have beaten league-leading Las Vegas Friday night. Instead, the Thunder "powered" their way to a 3-2 victory in the Delta Center.
Las Vegas used three power-play goals to stop the Eagles' modest three-game win streak, and further frustrate Salt Lake's coaches, players and fans."The special teams were obviously the difference in the game," coach Dave Farrish offered. "They got three power-play goals, we struggled with ours, and we had lots of opportunities but couldn't seem to put any flow to it."
Indeed, the Eagles were given a golden opportunity to upset the Thunder and keep their streak alive. Just 65 seconds into the game, Las Vegas' Lyndon Byers and the Eagles' Jason Simon, who some observers thought had words with each other in warmups, got into a shoving match at center ice. Byers was given an instigating minor, a fighting major and a game misconduct. Simon received a fighting major. A minor on the Thunder's bench after the calls gave the Birds a 5-on-3 advantage, which Salt Lake quickly capitalized on.
Darryl Olson took a pass from Chris Luongo and beat Peter Ing to his right to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead at 1:32. Minutes later, with both teams at equal strength, Derek Armstrong hit Ing to his right, and the deflected puck somehow dribbled into the net to make it 2-0 Salt Lake at 4:51 of the first.
But then the game got really crazy. Las Vegas took advantage of its first power play to score at 5:41 when Jeff Sharples slapped the twines from the left side. The Thunder then got a huge break when Simon was whistled for a fighting major and a match penalty, giving Las Vegas a five-minute power play. Bryan Fogarty tied the score at 2-all at 9:46 on a slap shot from the left side.
The first period took 58 minutes to play and accounted for 68 combined penalty minutes. Farrish felt that kind of stop-and-go action hurt his young team.
"With an older, experienced team like that (the Thunder), they're better able to adjust to that situation," he said. "Younger players get a little bit antsy and lose their focus, and we couldn't really regain it tonight."
Las Vegas' eventual game-winner was also on the power play, as Sharples scored again on a slapshot at 9:28 of the second period. Defense dominated the rest of the way, but the Thunder, who outshot Salt Lake 41-22 on the evening, stopped nine of 10 Salt Lake power plays and held on for the victory.