Despite having played more recently, the Eagles looked like the rested team and came out of the gate convincingly. They outshot Florida 17-8 in the opening frame and had a 2-0 lead at the first intermission.
"We played as best as we could, we worked really hard," Colorado Avalanche prospect Travis Barron said after the contest. "We were a team that was really ready for this game, really excited. We just came off a long series, but it's kind of nice to jump right back into it, especially in the finals."
After not playing in Games 6 and 7 of the Western Conference finals, Barron returned to the lineup and had nine penalty minutes in the victory.
The second period was tilted more in the Everblades favor, as Florida pulled within one tally and had a 12-3 edge in shots on goal in the stanza.
"That's the playoffs for you, it's always momentum going back and forth so we knew we just had to outwork them (in the third)," said Barron. "Keep it simple and play the way we can and we (knew we) wouldn't have a problem. We battled really hard tonight."
Avs prospect Joe Cannata made 27 saves in the victory, and the only shot that got past him came in the second period during a 4-on-4 situation when Florida's Sam Warning sent a wrister into the Eagles net.
Colorado was 3-for-3 in shorthanded situations, including a successful penalty kill in the second stanza that kept the score in the Eagles favor, 2-1.
"We had a lot of good blocks by our defensemen, we had energy after that," said Avalanche prospect Julien Nantel. "Even since the beginning of the playoffs, we have been very good on the penalty kill."
Nantel and fellow Avs prospect J.C. Beaudin finished the contest with one shot on goal, while defenseman Nicolas Meloche had a plus-1 rating and 17 penalty minutes.
The teams took matching minor penalties at the end of the third period, and Florida pulled goaltender Martin Ouellette for the extra skater but didn't capitalize. Colorado forward Shawn St-Amant got the puck on a breakaway and secured the win with an empty-net tally.
