The Ontario Reign faced off against the Tucson Roadrunners in the second game of the two game set Saturday night.
Newly acquired Aaron Dell got his first start in net for the Reign, as former Reign goaltender Matthew Villalta was in the crease for Tucson.
After a physical but dominant 5-1 win Friday night against the Roadrunners, the Reign looked sloppy in the opening period of this one.
Cameron Hebig got the scoring started for the Roadrunners. On a scramble in front of the net, Hebig found and backhanded the puck past Dell.
Less than three minutes later, a re-direct by Milos Kelleman put Tucson up by two in the opening period.
The second period started with a Colin Theisin one time shot right by Dell putting the Roadrunners up 3-0.
Ontario got the goal right back, credited to the red hot Akil Thomas, who found the puck off the rebound in front of Villalta, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
After a senseless headbutt by Patrik Koch, which resulted in a five minute major and a game misconduct, there was a sense of momentum shifting in Ontario’s favor.
But with Brandt Clarke, Samuel Fagemo and Alex Turcotte all currently with the Los Angeles Kings, the first power-play unit for the Reign looks very different.
The Reign not only failed to score on the five minute major, but immediately gave up a goal to Milos Keleman, his second of the game.
In the final period of play, Josh Doan popped the water bottle behind Dell on a wrist shot, which gave the Roadrunners a 5-1 lead.
A power play goal by Charles Hudon gave the Reign some life midway through the third. Then, Samuel Helenius grabbed two quick goals in thirty seconds, cutting the Tucson lead down to 5-4 with 3:54 left to play.
The Reign made a great attempt to tie the game, but came up short. Immediately after the final buzzer sounded, there was an all out brawl on the ice. A very bitter taste for Ontario leaving the ice, as they fall short 5-4.
Here Are My Takeaways From The Loss
Reign Need To Come Out Stronger
The Reign looked sloppy in the opening period of this game. After a 5-1 win last night, Ontario might have partied too hard, and came out hungover.
There were no answers for the Reign in the first, as the Roadrunners had a 14-6 shots on goal advantage by periods end.
Aside from the Akil Thomas goal, it was much of the same in the second period. Just sloppy play all around from Ontario. Missed opportunities, bad finishes, bad puck reception. All that could go wrong was going wrong.
If the Reign played like they did in the third period, it would have looked a lot like Friday’s game that ended 5-1 in favor of Ontario. This has been an issue in past games. Need to be better when coming out.
Aaron Dell Was Better Than The Stats Show
Although the stats show Dell gave up 5 goals on 27 shots, the performance was not all that bad. In fact, I would argue on most nights, it would be a winning performance.
All the goals scored by Tucson were due to poor positioning by the Reign skaters. Every single one, the shooter was on the inside, in front of Dell. That just cannot happen against a team with a chip on their shoulder in the Roadrunners.
The Reign Are Missing Their Former Stars
In the AHL, it is not all about winning, but mainly about development. Brandt Clarke, who was a surprise when sent down to the AHL to start the season, was killing it this season for the Reign.
Samuel Fagemo, a mid-season acquisition, was also tearing it up. His presence was felt the moment he put pen to paper with Ontario, becoming the main scoring threat, especially on the power play.
Lastly, Alex Turcotte brought the energy and skill every time he walked into the arena for the Reign. All three of these guys are currently with the Los Angeles Kings. Not to mention, the injuries of Jacob Moverare and Jacob Doty, the Reign really miss the presence of those three guys currently in Los Angeles.
The Reign will look to bounce back against the Colorado Eagles at home on Tuesday night.