The Reign, despite their loss, showed remarkable resilience against the Coachella Valley Firebirds, falling short 5-3.
They now face a 2-0 series deficit and will look to stave off elimination Sunday at Toyota Arena.
Coachella Valley came out strong, dominating the game from the start. They wasted no time getting on the board, as John Hayden floated a puck from the half-wall past Erik Portillo to make the game 1-0 only 1:57 seconds in.
Nothing outside of the physical presence of both teams happened for the next nine or ten minutes.
But then, defenseman Cale Fleury put a wrister past Portillo’s blocker, giving Coachella Valley a 2-0 advantage on three shots.
Being down early and the hits they were enduring made the Reign visibly frustrated, which led to a Charles Hudon penalty, resulting in a power-play goal for Jani Nyman.
Slick passing from the Firebirds allowed Nyman to be wide open from point-blank range, tipping the puck in from a feed behind the net.
The Reign had 8 penalty minutes in the first period, which also cost them a goal.
The second period started with another Firebirds goal, except it was in the wrong net. Max McCormick batted the puck out of the air right by Driedger, who was caught off guard.
Kevin Connauton would get the goal credit, his first of the playoffs thus far.
Halfway into the second period, Firebirds leading scorer Ryan Winterton found none other than top-five pick Shane Wright at point-blank range, giving Coachella more insurance.
In the third, the Reign scored off a Hayden Hodgson tip-in off an original shot by Taylor Ward, cutting the lead to two.
Hodgson received a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct for crushing Shane Wright on the boards 15 seconds after the goal.
And with one second left on the penalty kill, Cale Fleury blasted a shot past Portillo, making it 5-2.
T.J. Tynan tipped a shot home from Hudon two minutes later, but it wasn’t enough, as the Reign fell short 5-3.
Here are my three takeaways from the game
Coming Out Flat:
This Coachella team can fly, and in the first frame, it is almost like the Reign are playing catch-up these past two games.
So far in this series, Coachella Valley has outscored Ontario 5-1 in the first 20 minutes. This has been an issue all year for the Reign, and it is biting them against Coachella.
This all starts in warmups; for the most part, Erik Portillo only sees low and high slot shots in warmups. The Firebirds beat him this game with shots from the half wall and the point.
Scufflin’ Sammy:
Samuel Fagemo scored 43 goals in the Regular Season, led all of the AHL in power-play goals, and has led the Reign in shots this postseason with 28 in seven games.
He only has two goals because he is forced to go outside when entering the zone, and his shots from the circle are just getting blocked.
For him and head coach Marco Sturm, maybe it's time to make a play where they can get Fagemo in the slot more often, letting Turcotte and Tynan do the dirty work on the outside.
Gameplan Needs to Change:
Head coach Marco Sturm has grasped tightly to the lineup that won the Reign rounds 1 and 2.
However, it seems this team's age and size are catching up to them, and Coachella Valley is outplaying Ontario with its pace.
If Hodgson receives a suspension, maybe it is time to turn to Francesco Pinelli or Martin Chromiak for some youth and speed for game three. A change is needed after dropping these first two games.
The Reign look to survive another day with a win on Sunday at Toyota Arena. A loss will end their season, so they need to come out with more energy in front of the home crowd.