After an impressive two-game weekend for the Reign, they looked to continue their success against the Abbotsford Canucks Wednesday night.
The first goal came under the heading of funky. About four minutes in, Tyler Madden backhanded the puck from behind the net, hitting Samuel Fagemo's chest and into the net.
This would be the start of a long night for Abbotsford Canucks goaltender Nikita Tolopilo, who was getting heckled all night by Reign fans in section 105.
Shortly after, Martin Chromiak would speedfully enter the offensive zone, making a slick feed across the crease to Taylor Ward, who put the Reign up 2-0.
Once again, shortly after, while on the power play, Danila Klimovich wristed one from the right circle that snuck by Portillo, cutting the lead in half.
The trend would continue, though, as 26 seconds later, Glenn Gawdin would get knocked down by the right half wall, but from his belly, make an impressive pass to Charles Hudon, who scored from point blank range.
Marco Sturm said this about the postgame play: "It was an outstanding play by [Gawdin] and a great finish. You know, that line's been outstanding for a while now."
Later in the first, Jeff Malott would score his first of the season, finding the puck on a rebound from Tolopilo and tapping it in.
At this point, Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra saw enough and pulled Tolopilo, opting for Jiri Patera.
Unfortunately for Patera, he would get hurt making some terrific saves 5 minutes into his stint, and Tolopilo would be back out in between the pipes. Hockey comes at you fast sometimes.
In the second, the Reign would score quickly once again, coming off another big rebound from Tolopilo into Hudon's breadbasket, making it 5-1.
But the resilient Canucks never say die, as a power play and tip in goal would make it 5-3 before the end of the second period.
There was a lot in the final period of play, starting with Tyler Madden, who has had a super impressive start to the season, scoring to make it 6-3.
Then, in his first AHL game this season, Arshdeep Bains would again cut the lead to two.
Not too long after, Jack Studnicka wristed a shot past Tolopilo, who, once again, had a dreadful night.
Samuel Fagemo would put the icing on the cake, scoring one of the cleaner empty net goals you're going to see, sending the Reign faithful home happy with another eight-goal performance.
Here are two takeaways from the game
Lethal Offense Or Bad Goaltending?
My first takeaway is more of a question: Do the Reign have one of the more powerful offenses in the AHL, or have they just run into bad goaltending?
Ever since Marco Sturm shook up the lines, the Reign have scored 21 goals in four games, three of which were against the Henderson Silver Knights.
To add on, the Reign scored eight goals in back-to-back games. I'm not sure if that has happened before in Reign history.
After the three games against Henderson, I assumed the goaltending was mediocre since the Silver Knights weren't a powerhouse last season and missed the playoffs.
Nevertheless, you got to give the Reign credit, they came out and did the same thing to the Canucks that they did Silver Knights.
With that being said, Nikita Tolopilo wasn't good, either. As mentioned earlier, he was pulled from the game early.
Barring Jiri Patera's injury, maybe this game wouldn't have gotten out of hand.
Best Players Are Playing Like It
After the loss to the Silver Knights on Oct 27, Sturm stated that the best players "need to play like the best players."
Following that statement, the best players have awoken, led by guys like Hudon, Fagemo, and Studnicka.
Hudon has been a top-two star of the game three games in a row, tallying four goals in the last three.
Fagemo also has four goals on the season, scoring a pair in each of the last two games.
Studnicka has been good all season, but scoring against his former team in this match must've felt a little extra good.
The first matchup between the Reign and the Firebirds at Toyota Arena is Friday night. It should be a fun and rowdy one.