The Ontario Reign opened up an important three-game homestand against the Tucson Roadrunners Wednesday night.
It was a tight contest early on, with neither team scoring for the first 31 minutes of the match.
Who else but Samuel Fagemo to break the scoreless tie, going to his backhand and scoring over the shoulder of Roadrunners goaltender Matt Villalta midway through the middle frame.
Right before the second period ended, Reign netminder Aaron Dell made a series of good saves before time expired.
Tucson tied the score in the third, credited to a beautiful shot by Josh Doan, wristing the puck over the glove of Dell.
A nailbiter heading into the final four minutes of the game, before Taylor Ward found Akil Thomas on the backdoor, putting Ontario ahead in the late stages of the game.
Two empty net goals would put the game on ice, ending in a 4-1 Reign victory. A huge two points in the standings, keeping the Reign put in 4th place of the pacific division.
Here are my three takeaways from the game:
Staying Disciplined
You hear Ontario Reign PA announcer Jeff Pope say all the time, “Reign on an all-pro power kill” whenever the opposing team is on the man advantage.
Wednesday night, you only heard it once, as the Reign did not commit a penalty until 7:37 left to go in the final frame.
Not being down a man will help you win games, if they continue to stay disciplined, this team will be scary heading into the postseason.
Power Play Struggled
As of late, the Reign power play has not been at its best. Those struggles continued Wednesday night, going 0-3 on the man advantage. Ontario had three chances last night to score while on the power play, but failed to do so.
Samuel Fagemo has been a huge reason why the power play unit has been somewhat successful throughout the season.
It seems as though other teams are catching on, and are swarming the left side of the ice, not letting Fagemo breathe.
It also does not help that Charles Hudon was not in the lineup, another threat from the other side of the ice.
Beat The Best Team On The Homestand
Coming into this homestand, Tucson was placed in second in the Pacific division. These next two games come against the Calgary Wranglers (6th) and the Bakersfield Condors (5th).
Two teams ranked below the Reign, these are games they should win on paper, especially after beating a tough Roadrunner team.
The Wranglers only sit two points behind the Reign as of Mar. 21, and the Condors only sit one point behind.
Foreshadowing into the future, these next two games can potentially make or break whether or not the Reign will have home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.