Ontario Reign: Three takeaways from 3-1 loss to Calgary

The Ontario Reign dropped their fourth straight game as they fell to the Calgary Wranglers 3-1 on New Year’s Eve.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

None

Second period:

CGY: PP Jakob Pelletier (13), ASST: Nick DeSimone (14), Mitch McLain (6)

CGY: PP Jakob Pelletier (14), ASST: Matthew Phillips (17), Connor Zary (21)

Third period:

ONT: Alex Turcotte (4), ASST: Taylor Ward (6)

CGY: SHG, EN Kevin Rooney (2), ASST: Dennis Gilbert (1)

Stats

Goals:

CGY: 3

ONT: 1

Shots: 

CGY: 24

ONT: 34

Power play:

CGY: 2/7

ONT: 0/5

Three takeaways from the New Year’s Eve loss to Calgary:

Special teams decide this one

When the game was 5-on-5, the Ontario Reign was the better team, when it came to special teams Calgary was the better team. The Wranglers got seven power-play opportunities and converted twice with both goals coming off the stick of Jakob Pelletier in the second period. The Reign also had their chances on the power play and couldn’t convert.

With 12:06 remaining in the second period, the Reign had a 5-on-3 for 42 seconds, which prompted head coach Marco Sturm to call a timeout. After the timeout, the Reign didn’t get many chances and sometimes made one too many passes. Both penalties were killed as Calgary held on to their 1-0 lead.

Another moment the Reign had was a 6-on-4 with 1:08 left in the game and a chance to tie the game. Just like the 5-on-3, the Reign didn’t get a shot, and Kevin Rooney sealed the game with a short-handed, empty net goal. The game came down to special teams, and the Ontario Reign couldn’t capitalize on their power plays, but the Calgary Wranglers did.

Alex Turcotte scores the Reign’s lone goal

Calgary’s netminder Dustin Wolf shut the door on every shot the Ontario Reign threw at him. There wasn’t much traffic or second chances the Reign had, but when they did, Wolf shut the door. With the Reign trailing 2-0 and the power play expiring, a scramble in front of Wolf resulted in Alex Turcotte putting home the loose change.

Against goaltenders like Wolf, you’ll have to score goals that aren’t pretty. The goal by Turcotte was his third point in two games, his second goal in back-to-back games, and his third goal in four games. He now has four goals on the season.

New Year’s resolution

The Reign have lost four straight to close out 2022, with three of them coming against the Calgary Wranglers. They’ll head into 2023 sixth in the division with 27 points. That calls for some New Year’s resolutions. While the Reign have been better on the defensive side this year, the offense has been inconsistent. Scoring more goals may be at the top of the list for a team who should be lighting the lamp but is 30th in goals.

They’re bottom three in goals for and top three in goals against. Martin Frk’s 40 goals are missed and someone or a collective group needs to fill that void to provide that scoring punch for a team that shouldn’t have issues putting the puck in the net. Another New Year’s resolution should be the power play. It has taken a bit of a hit this season and sometimes looks stagnant. Those should be two areas of improvement heading into the New Year.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign travel to Bakersfield to take on the Condors and will play their game that was postponed from December 16th on Wednesday night at 6:30 PM PT.

*Happy New Year Reign fans!

*This piece is dedicated to my grandmother who recently passed away this week. She always believed in me and I wanted to dedicate this piece to her. I miss you, grandma!

Featured image credit: Mike Zitek/Ontario Reign 

 

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