Painful playoff: 'Hounds fall, 7-2

Youngstown will play the second game of the best-of-7 series tonight.
By JOHN J. ROBERTS
FORT COLLINS COLORADOAN
LOVELAND, Colo. -- A fast start wasn't enough for the Youngstown SteelHounds on Friday night in the first playoff game in the franchise's history.
The Colorado Eagles won Game 1 of a Central Hockey League Northern Conference quarterfinal matchup 7-2 on Friday night to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.
Youngstown coach Kevin Kaminski said the goal was to get a split of the first two games on the road in Colorado's Budweiser Events Center.
That will make tonight's Game 2 that much more important. All-star center Chris Richards missed the opener with an injury but might play tonight.
Nice start
Friday night, the hungry Hounds, enjoying their first time in the postseason, jumped all over the Eagles from the start, and their captain Jeff Christian, newly minted as the CHL MVP, scored off a rebound just 50 seconds into the game.
Riley Nelson tied it up for the Eagles when he settled a bouncing puck quickly to his forehand and snapped a shot high past SteelHounds goalie Brad Roberts 7:09 into the first.
Colorado continued the pressure a minute later when it earned a 5-on-3 power-play chance that lasted for 1:30. Youngstown killed it off, though, and earned its own power play, which Stephen Margeson converted at 11:31 to give the SteelHounds a 2-1 lead.
The back-and-forth play led to a tying goal by Ryan Tobler with just under two minutes to play in the first period.
The Steelhounds had a great scoring chance five minutes into the second, but Eagles goalie Marco Emond kept the game knotted when he stopped Shaun Landolt's redirected shot during a 2-on-1 Youngstown rush.
Taking the lead
The Eagles then took advantage of their next chance. Ed McGrane tipped home a Craig Strain shot from the point 6:27 into the period for a 3-2 lead, Colorado's first of the game.
The Eagles gained a two-goal lead with a shorthanded goal by Riley Nelson with 6:15 to play in the second. Former Colorado winger Garrett Larson turned over the puck to Chris Hartsburg behind the SeelHounds' goal. Hartsburg gathered the puck while on his back, got up and fed Nelson across the slot for the two-goal cushion.
Colorado extended to a 6-2 lead on goals by Brent Hughes and Nelson 10 seconds apart about six minutes into the third, and Tobler added the final goal with a half-minute to play.