The losing streak for the Ontario Reign extended to five games with a 6-2 home loss to the San Jose Barracuda Wednesday night.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

ONT: Alan Quine (8), ASST: Taylor Ward (15), Jacob Moverare (14)

SJ: Will Riedell (2), ASST: Adam Raska (3), Luke Johnson (8)

SJ: Jeffrey Viel (11), ASST: Tristen Robbins (16)

ONT: Tyrell Goulbourne (2), ASST: Andre Lee (2), Kim Nousiainen (4)

Second period:

SJ: Kyle Criscuolo (13), ASST: None

SJ: Luke Johnson (10), ASST: Danil Gushchin (15), Artemi Kiniazev (16)

SJ: Andrew Agozzino (21), ASST: Will Riedell (1), Danil Gushchin (16)

Third period:

SJ: Kyle Criscuolo (14), ASST: Thomas Bourdeleau (18), Danil Gushchin (17)

Stats

Goals:

SJ: 6

ONT: 2

Shots: 

SJ: 22

ONT: 26

Power-plays:

SJ: 0/4

ONT: 0/5

Here are the three takeaways from Wednesday’s 6-2 loss:

A common theme

Besides the end result in these past five games, I’ve noticed a pattern in some of these losses for the Ontario Reign. Before last night’s game, it was either one period, one play that ended a game off a mistake, or a 5-10 minute stretch where things go south after a mistake. Last night was the second period where things went south for the Ontario Reign. The Reign allowed three goals in a span of 8:34 in the second period which decided the game.

Did the Reign play badly during that period? No. I thought they were the better team in the second period. Their forecheck was strong, they caused turnovers, and they had sustained pressure. However, it was their miscues that caused everything to go South. A turnover by Bjornfot, a bad rebound given up by Petersen, and a defensive breakdown dug the Reign a hole they couldn’t get out of. It’s a theme that has been far too common lately that needs to be cleaned up.

What’s up, Cal?

Cal Petersen was placed on waivers by the LA Kings back in November. The hope was to allow Petersen to get his confidence back, find his game, and possibly rejoin the Kings at some point this season. While it started well for the 28-year-old netminder, it has been a constant up and down for him since December 20th. From December 20th to now, there’s been a mixture of good, bad, and okay games from Petersen. While there have been goals given up by Petersen due to defensive breakdowns (which happen), there have been goals he’s allowed because of bad positioning, bad rebound control, or over-commitment. Those were a few areas he had to clean up when being demoted. Below are two goals given up last night that I’m referring to:

The first goal he got beat cleanly and didn’t look like he wasn’t expecting it, while the second goal was an example of bad rebound control. Petersen now posts a record of 13-11-4 with a 2.91 goals against average and a .907 save percentage. Whether it be a buyout or trade, general manager Rob Blake is going to have to eat his loss no matter what.

Free falling?

The loss last night was the fifth straight for the Ontario Reign. Each game the Reign have had their fair share of mistakes that have cost them momentum and a victory. The Abbotsford Canucks pulled out a win against the Manitoba Moose and now have a four-point lead on the Ontario Reign for third place in the division. The Colorado Eagles got swept in a two-game series in Calgary and remain tied for fourth place with the Reign. However, the Bakersfield Condors are starting to catch fire and are starting to produce more offense and trail the Reign by nine points in the standings.

Things won’t get easier for the Reign as the Calgary Warngler come to town for a two-game series. If the Reign wants to end their five-game losing streak, they’ll need to play a full 60-minute game, limit the mistakes, and finally beat an opponent they’ve struggled to win against this season. If not, the losing streak will continue. Easier said than done though.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign are back at it Friday night against the Calgary Wranglers. The game starts at 7 pm PT and can be seen on AHLTV.

Featured image credit: Mike Zitek/Ontario Reign

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1 thought on “Ontario Reign: Three takeaways from 6-2 loss to San Jose”

  1. It’s a little worrisome that potential future Kings are not dominating. Guys like Fagemo, Chromiak, Turcotte (when healthy) need to show the Kings they can contribute to the big club.

    Also, some of our young D-men aren’t doing enough to show that they belong in the NHL except for Spence.

    As for Cal… the article is correct. Blake is going to eat this one.

    Reply

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