Ontario Reign: Three stars of the week 1/30 – 2/5

The Ontario Reign went 2-1-0-0 in their three games last week to hold onto the 5th-see heading into the all-star break.

The Reign started the week off with a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Eagles in which Matthew Villalta made 43 saves in his 100th career AHL game. The 43 saves was one save shy of tying his career-high. Ontario would then go on to split their weekend series against the Tucson Roadrunners. The first meeting saw the Reign get shut out for the first time this season in a 2-0 loss. Ontario rebounded the next night with a 5-2 victory heading into the all-star break. Another week has passed which means it is time for our Ontario Reign three stars of the week segment.

Three players that were worthy of making the list were Tyler Madden, Taylor Ward, and Jordan Spence. Each player had at least one game where they shined and is this week’s honorable mentions.

Here are the three stars of the week from 1/30 – 2/5:

3rd star:

TJ Tynan

Stat line: Three games, one goal, three assists, four points, +3 rating, five shots on goal

TJ Tynan, once again, had a memorable week. The captain of the Ontario Reign started the week off against the Colorado Eagles registering two assists in a 5-2 Reign victory. The following day he was named AHL player of the month for January.

After going scoreless in the first meeting against Tucson, Tynan recorded a goal and an assist the following game for his 7th multi-point game in his last 10 games. His empty-net goal would be his 500th career AHL point.

The all-star for the Ontario Reign earned the 3rd star of the week.

2nd star:

Penalty kill

Stat line: 12/12 on the penalty kill in three games

It was a great week for the penalty kill unit. The penalty kill for the Reign was a perfect 12-for-12 during the week, including going 10-for-10 in the two games against the Tucson Roadrunners. The penalty kill had to come up big in those two games against Tucson as they had to kill off a 5-on-3 in each game. For the season, the Reign’s penalty kill is ranked 10th at 83.2%. That is a decent turnaround from last season’s 76.7% penalty kill, which was ranked 27th. Looking at their home and road splits, Ontario is 85.6% (5th) at home and 80.3% (12th) on the road when on the penalty kill.

1st star:

Matthew Villalta and Cal Petersen

Stat line: Three games, five goals allowed, 117 saves on 122 shots faced, 2-1-0-0 record

Matthew Villalta: One game, two goals allowed, 43 saves on 45 shots faced, 1-0-0-0 record

Cal Petersen: Two games, three goals allowed, 74 saves on 77 shots faced, 1-1-0-0 record

The goalie duo of Matthew Villalta and Cal Petersen had a great week by allowing no more than two goals in any game. Matthew Villalta started the first game of the week by making 43 saves, including 29 saves in the final two periods.

Cal Petersen would start the final game two games for the Ontario Reign and played great himself. Petersen made 38 saves in a 2-0 loss to the Roadrunners and only allowed one goal (the second one was an empty-net goal). The following night he made 36 saves in a 5-2 Reign win.

The goalies were the best players for Ontario in all three games. They kept them in the game or preserved a Reign lead throughout the game while facing at least 38 shots in every contest. They were the number one star of the week.

Featured image credit: Mike Zitek/Ontario Reign

Tags:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *