Ontario Reign: Three takeaways from 4-3 win against Abbotsford

The Ontario Reign managed to pull out a victory over the Abbotsford Canucks after losing a three-goal lead in the second period.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

ONT: Andre Lee (3), ASST: Kim Nousiainen (4), Hayden Hodgson (2)

ONT: Tyler Madden (7), ASST: Waytte Wylie (6), Taylor Ward (9)

ONT: SH Andre Lee (4), ASST: None

Second period:

ABB: Christian Wolanin (3), ASST: Vasily Podkolzin (10), Mark Friedman (1)

ABB: Linus Karlsson (8), ASST: Arshdeep Bains (24), Chase Wouters (6)

ABB: Aidan McDonough (5), ASST: Tristen Nielsen (9), Mark Friedman (2)

Third period:

ONT: PP Alex Turcotte (6), ASST: Charles Hudon (14), Akil Thomas (12)

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 4

ABB: 3

Shots: 

ONT: 21

ABB: 36

Power plays:

ONT: 1/1

ABB: 0/2

Here are the three takeaways from last night’s 4-3 victory:

Survived again

The Ontario Reign played with fire but managed not to get burned. After building a three-goal lead through 20 minutes, it vanished in the second period. Alex Turcotte’s game-winning goal in the third period ended up being the game-winner as the Reign picked up two points over the Abbotsford Canucks in game one of a back-to-back.

While the Reign have won three out of the first four games on this five-game road trip, their five-on-five play has been an issue. The first period was their best, but those final 40 minutes looked like a team hanging on by a thread.

Erik Portillo had to come up big again, making 33 saves to earn his 11th win of the season. The Reign have allowed at least 36 shots on goal in all four games on this road trip. That’s not a recipe for success, but they’ve managed to overcome it with great play from their goaltending.

Andre Lee strikes twice

It’s been a long time since Andre Lee found the back of the net – November 17th against the Calgary Wranglers, to be exact. In that game, Andre Lee scored two goals in his season debut after returning from a lower-body injury. Last night, he re-directed Kim Nousiainen’s shot from the blue line to open the scoring 8:23 into the opening period and would add a short-handed goal late into the same period to give the Reign a 3-0 lead heading into the intermission.

This was Lee’s third two-goal game of his brief professional career. It was also the second time that both goals he scored in a game came in the first period (2/17/23). Lately, Samuel Fagemo and Akil Thomas have been carrying the load offensively, but getting two goals from your bottom-six winger is always good. Depth is key.

Welcome back

Ontario got some reinforcements for this game. Defenseman Kevin Connauton and forward Alex Turcotte returned to the lineup after missing time with injuries. Connauton played on the second defensive pair with Steven Santini, while Turcotte played second-line center with Taylor Ward and Tyler Madden as his wingers.

Turcotte plays with a motor that never shuts off and played like that last night. He looked like he didn’t miss a beat and scored the game-winning goal on the power play in the third period by re-directing a Charles Hudon blast from near the blue line. It was his sixth goal of the season.

Notes:

*Erik Portillo made 33 saves to record his 11th win of the season.

*Akil Thomas’ secondary assist on Alex Turcotte’s goal extended his point streak to six games (5-3-8).

*Andre Lee recorded his first goal since November 17th and first point since December 16th.

*Wyatte Wylie recorded his fourth assist in his last five games.

*Tyler Madden recorded his first goal since December 30th against Henderson.

*The Reign won the special teams battle again by going 1/1 on the power play and 2/2 on the penalty kill.

UP NEXT: These two teams are back at it tonight to close out the two-game series. Puck drop is at 7 PM and can be seen on AHLTV.

Featured image credit: Abbotsford Canucks

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