Ontario Reign: Three takeaways from 2-1 loss to Abbotsford

The Ontario Reign fell to the Abbotsford Canucks 2-1 on Wednesday night to conclude their five-game road trip.

Goal Breakdown

First period: 

None

Second period:

None

Third period: 

ONT: SH Samuel Helenius (5), ASST: None

ABB: PP Linus Karlsson (9), ASST: Arshdeep Bains (25), Mark Friedman (3)

ABB: Max Sasson (11), ASST: Aidan McDonough (4), Filip Johansson (7)

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 1

ABB: 2

Shots: 

ONT: 31

ABB: 31

Power plays:

ONT: 0/3

ABB: 1/2

Here are the three takeaways from Wednesday’s 2-1 loss:

Better effort

Even though it is tough to lose a one-goal game to end the road trip – a game that was scoreless through 40 minutes – the Ontario Reign shouldn’t be upset with their play. After getting outshot and outplayed at five-on-five the last three games, I thought the Reign looked much better and gave themselves a chance to win. Unfortunately, they didn’t get rewarded, and that’s how it goes sometimes when it’s anybody’s game. Out of the five games on this road trip, this was arguably their best played.

Martin Chromiak led the team with five shots on goal in arguably his best game in about a month. When engaged, he is dangerous, and the Reign will need that with Samuel Fagemo possibly being recalled to the Kings.

Another shorty

Another game, another short-handed goal for the Reign. Although the Reign couldn’t capitalize on their power plays, they did strike on the penalty kill. After a failed tap-in chance by Abbotsford on their first power play, Samuel Helenius grabbed the puck in the Reign zone and rushed up the ice on a two-on-one attempt with Andre Lee. Electing to keep the puck, Helenius went from his backhand to forehand and shot the puck far side on Nikita Tolopilo to open the scoring 1:02 into the final frame.

I guess you can say that was a nice Finnish.

However, the lead wouldn’t last long as Linus Karlsson would score 52 seconds later on a pass that re-directed off Cody Haiskanen’s stick and over Jacob Ingham’s shoulder. 1:21 later, Max Stasson would score on a two-on-one to give Abbotsford the lead for good.

Successful road trip

The Reign picked up six out of a possible ten points on this five-game road trip, including back-to-back splits with the Calgary Wranglers and Abbotsford Canucks. The Wranglers and Canucks are ranked 6th and 7th in the AHL, respectively, by home-win percentage. To manage a split against two teams in the top ten in that category is a success. Now it’s time to carry that over into this weekend against the Coachella Valley Firebirds and Bakersfield Condors.

Notes:

*Akil Thomas’ six-game point streak came to an end.

*Martin Chromiak led the Reign with five shots on goal.

*Jacob Ingham made 29 saves. He now owns a 1.99 GAA and a .940 save percentage.

*Samuel Helnius’ short-handed goal was the third short-handed goal by the Reign on this road trip, the fourth in their last seven games, and the second one in back-to-back games.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign return home to face the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Saturday. The game starts at 6 PM and can be seen on AHLTV.

Featured image credit: Abbotsford Canucks

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