Three Takeaways from Ontario Reign 7 Colorado Eagles 3

The Colorado Eagles rode a four-goal second period to hand the Ontario Reign their worst loss of the season on Saturday as they cruised to a 7-3 win.

Goal Breakdown

First Period

COL: Oskar Olausson (2) ASST: Jean-Luc Foudy (5), Alex Beaucage (5) – PP

ONT: Alan Quine (3) ASST : TJ Tynan (12), Lias Andersson (4)

COL: Charles Hudon (5) ASST: Mitchell Vande Sompel (2), Brad Hunt (4) – PP

Second Period:

COL: Oskar Olaussen (3) ASST: Josh Jacobs (1), Keaton Middleton (5)

COL: Mitchell Vande Sompel (1) ASST: Brad Hunt (5), Spencer Smallman (2)

COL: Callahan Burke (3) ASST: Brad Hunt (6), Sampo Ranta (1)

COL: Jayson Megna (2) ASST: Keaton Middleton – SH

Third Period

COL: Sampo Ranta (1) ASST: Oskar Olausson (2), Keaton Middleton (6)

ONT: Akil Thomas (5) ASST: TJ Tynan (13), Jordan Spence (9) – PP

ONT: Lias Andersson (4) ASST: Alan Quine (6), Jordan Spence (10)

STATS

Goals

ONT: 3

COL: 7

Shots

ONT: 25

COL: 35

Powerplay

ONT: 1/6

COL: 2/4

Here are three takeaways from the loss in Colorado:

1 – Revenge is a dish best served…

Last season, the Ontario Reign’s meteoric rise was indeed a sight to behold. However, they came up short against Colorado in the playoffs and were ousted pretty quickly. Coming into Saturday’s game against the Eagles, the only dinner that should have been served was revenge. However, this didn’t happen at all. Colorado made it look easy as they picked the Reign’s defense apart, exploding for four goals in the 2^nd period, chasing Pheonix Copley from the net. It was eerily similar to the games in the playoffs, as the Eagles controlled most of the play and kept the Reign to the outside most of the game.

The Eagles were just better the better team in this one. Ultimately, this seems to be a game that the Reign need to put behind them as they move forward to the next one. The best part of breaking a six-game winning streak is starting all over again.

2 – The Power Play was lacking

The Reign would have had a much better time against Colorado if they were able to capitalize on some man advantages, particularly the five-minute major that took place during the last five minutes of the second period. The Reign spent far too much time one-touching the puck on the right-wing side of the ice in the offensive zone, eventually leading to Colorado collapsing around the puck and clearing. It doesn’t always happen when a team is clicking on the man advantage, but in a game situation like Saturday, Ontario struggled to get through Colorado’s penalty killers and truly strike to get them back in the game.

3 – Cleaning it all up

Though this list of unfortunate events in Colorado is tough to swallow, things aren’t terrible for the Reign. This is a great squad, and they are still winning games overall. One loss isn’t going to destroy playoff hopes at this point. Of course, no one likes to lose, especially that badly, but sometimes there is such a thing as puck luck. The Eagles scored at a 20% rate, meaning they probably couldn’t redo this kind of game if they tried and without a divine hockey intervention. The Reign got caught a little flat-footed from the jump and seemed a step behind.

There’s work to be done, but that work is minimal. The Ontario Reign are still a great team and a huge threat in their division and the league.

The Ontario Reign will return on November 13^th against the San Diego Gulls.