Puustinen, Nielsen Convert in Shootout as Colorado Eagles Top Henderson Silver Knights

A ties game became a shootout thriller at Lee’s Family Forum as the Colorado Eagles edged the Henderson Silver Knights 4-3 after a scoreless five-minute overtime and six shootout rounds. Regulation finished 3-3 and the teams went to the skills competition with the series' second game on the line.

Henderson opened the scoring late in the first when Raphael Lavoie converted on the power play at 16:23, with Trevor Connelly and Tanner Laczynski credited with the assists. Colorado answered less than two minutes later when Tristen Nielsen scored at 17:49 to pull the Eagles even. Early in the second period Ben Hemmerling restored Henderson’s lead with a power-play goal at 25:37. The third period swung back and forth: Ivan Ivan tied it for Colorado at 43:25, Matyas Sapovaliv put Henderson back ahead at 50:00, and Taylor Makar leveled the score for the Eagles at 52:15 to force overtime.

Accounts diverge on the shootout log. Colorado’s team release credits Oskar Olausson and Cal Burke as Colorado’s successful shooters and calls Burke the deciding shooter in the shootout. Other game accounts and the headline identifying Puustinen and Nielsen say Valtteri Puustinen provided the decisive penalty shot and list Tristen Nielsen among the conversion scorers. Henderson’s game story confirms the shootout stretched six rounds and that Colorado “outskilled the Silver Knights” to claim the 4-3 victory but does not list individual shootout scorers in its available summary.

Goaltending figures are similarly mixed across reports. Colorado’s release lists Justus Annunen with 21 saves on 24 shots and credits him with stopping Grigori Denisenko and Tyler Benson in the shootout. Henderson’s summary praises its netminder, identified as Saville in team copy, for keeping Colorado at bay in overtime and says he took the shootout loss. Team-reported shot totals also conflict: Colorado’s site reports a 48-24 edge in shots and both teams finishing 1-for-2 on the power play, while another line in that same release contains a contradictory save number for Henderson’s goalie; those discrepancies require the official box score to reconcile.

Colorado’s team site says the Eagles swept the two-game set in Henderson; Henderson’s schedule notes their next home game is Wednesday, March 4 against the Coachella Valley Firebirds at 7 p.m. Other previews list Colorado traveling to Bakersfield on Tuesday, March 3. For clarity on the shootout order, which shooters converted, final goalie totals, and the correct day-of-week listing, the official AHL box score and shootout log should be consulted to finalize the play-by-play discrepancies and the game’s official statistics.