Ontario Reign: Three takeaways from 3-0 win against San Jose

The Ontario Reign recorded their third straight shutout as they took down the San Jose Barracuda Friday night, 3-0.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

ONT: PP Samuel Fagemo (6), ASST: Akil Thomas (3), Alex Turcotte (13)

Second period:

None

Third period:

ONT: Alex Turcotte (4), ASST: Brandt Clarke (12), Taylor Ward (4)

ONT: EN TJ Tynan (2), ASST: Taylor Ward (5), Samuel Fagemo (3)

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 3

SJ: 0

Shots: 

ONT: 23

SJ: 32

Power plays: 

ONT: 1/5

SJ: 0/2

Here are the three takeaways from Friday’s 3-0 victory:

Lucky 3s

The Ontario Reign won their third straight game by a score of 3-0, David Rittich recorded his third shutout of the season, and the Reign as a team recorded their third consecutive shutout. All three wins for the Reign during this small winning streak have been shutouts. While the previous two were more team efforts, the Reign needed to rely on their goaltender for last night’s win.

The Reign outshot the Barracuda, 7-4, in the opening frame and had the better scoring chances as a power-play goal by Samuel Fagemo was the lone tally in the period. Periods two and three were a different story as San Jose had the better chances and outshot the Reign 28-16 in those 40 minutes. On nights when you don’t have everyone ready or not at your best, your netminder has to bail you out, and Rittich did just that. The Reign haven’t allowed a goal since last Friday’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Calgary Wranglers with 3:54 left in the third period.

Samuel Fagemo is on fire

It’s been a crazy season for Samuel Fagemo. The LA Kings tried to sneak him through waivers to send him down to the AHL but he was claimed by the Nashville Predators. Fagemo didn’t last long in Nashville and was placed on waivers again a month later. The following day, after being placed on waivers, he was re-claimed by the Kings. After being re-claimed, Fagemo was assigned to the Ontario Reign and has been on fire in his return. In five games since re-joining the organization’s AHL affiliate, Fagemo has potted nine points (6G-3A). Four of his six goals have come on the man advantage. It seemed like his heart never left the organization when he was claimed off waivers in October, and is just happy and comfortable to be back.

Turcotte time?

After playing 59 games combined the last two seasons, Alex Turcotte has played in all 16 games for the Reign this season. In those 16 games, Turcotte has recorded 17 points (4G-13A), averaging a point per game. In his last four games, he has recorded three multi-point games. The organization seems keen on playing him at center, and when he’s played you can see why. He makes plays, is tenacious on the forecheck, and plays a solid two-way game.

The way he’s playing begs the question of when he’ll get called up. All I’ll say is soon, especially if Blake Lizotte continues to miss games with an injury. If the organization views him in their future plans then he should be getting a look.

NOTES:

*Alex Turcotte recorded two more points to extend his point streak to four games. He has seven points in that span.

*Brandt Clarke recorded an assist in the third period to extend his point streak to eight games. He has ten points, with eight of them being assists, in that span.

UP NEXT: These two teams are right back at it Saturday afternoon at 2 PM. The game can be seen on AHLTV.

Featured image credit: Andreea Cardani/San Jose Barracuda

Tags:

Leave a Reply

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