Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From 3-2 Loss Against Tucson

A late third-period rally wasn’t enough, as the Ontario Reign came up short and settled for a weekend split in Tucson.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

TUC: PP John Leonard (10), ASST: Josh Doan (13), Steven Kampfer (5)

Second period:

TUC: PP Josh Doan (21), ASST: Steven Kampfer (6), Austin Poganski (11)

TUC: Nathan Smith (6), ASST: Josh Doan (14), Patrik Koch (9)

Third period:

ONT: PP Samuel Fagemo (22), ASST: Joe Hickketts (4), Charles Hudon (21)

ONT: PP Samuel Fagemo (23), ASST: Charles Hudon (22), Joe Hicketts (5)

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 2

TUC: 3

Shots: 

ONT: 38

TUC: 32

Power plays:

ONT: 2/5

TUC: 2/6

Here are the three takeaways from last night’s 3-2 defeat:

Settled for a split

After an offensive onslaught that saw them score eight goals on Friday night, the Reign couldn’t repeat that performance on Saturday. Repeating the same offensive explosion on back-to-back nights is highly unlikely, and I also expected Tucson to have a bounce-back effort on their home ice, too. Those two things happened. Tucson came out with energy, pushed the pace early, and got timely saves early on from Dylan Wells on Akil Thomas and Charles Hudon before John Leonard gave Tucson the lead with a power-play goal.

Despite the Reign being blanked on the scoreboard until late in the third period, they didn’t play horribly. They had their chances but couldn’t get many pucks by Wells a night after they scored six on him. Give credit to him, as he was part of the reason why Ontario managed a split. A split against the number two seed in the division is something any coach should take.

Comeback falls short

Ontario didn’t quit in this one. They battled until the very end. Just like three weeks ago in their 5-4 loss to these same Roadrunners, the Reign faced a three-goal deficit in the final six minutes. In that loss, Samuel Helenius recorded two goals in 30 seconds to pull the Reign within one. Tucson was able to fend off a late push from Ontario to hang on for the victory.

Fast Forward to February 17th.

Ontario found themselves trailing by three with 5:43 remaining and going on a two-man advantage. Samuel Fagemo struck twice on both power play attempts with a slap shot from the left circle 62 seconds apart to pull the Reign within one. After killing off a penalty with 30 seconds remaining, Joe Hicketts vacated the penalty box and found himself with a two-on-one with Hudon. Hicketts fed the puck to Hudon, but Wells came across and robbed Hudon’s chance for the game-tying goal. Fagemo would get another chance in the final five seconds with a shot from the left circle, which was also stopped by Wells.

The Reign had two good looks at the tie, but Wells came up with the timely saves like he did early in the first period. The late rally came up short despite the late push.

Doan you forget about me

It’s hard not to forget about a player who is the son of a former Arizona Coyote great. Josh Doan, the son of the Coyotes’ long-time captain Shane Doan, made his mark on this game and continues to be a thorn in the Reign’s side. He factored in all three goals (1-2-3) for the Roadrunners and recorded the lone goal for the previous night for them as well.

Doan currently leads the Roadrunners with 21 goals and 35 points and has a goal in five straight games, the longest streak of his short professional career. The Reign are probably glad they see Tucson one more time this regular season, as he has averaged a point per game against Ontario.

NOTES:

*Josh Doan’s three-point night was a career-high.

*Both of Samuel Fagemo’s goals came on the power play. It’s the third time this season where both of his goals came on the man advantage.

*The Reign, the league’s best road penalty kill, allowed two power-play goals in a game on the road for only the second time this season. The other game was back on December 20th against Abbotsford.

*Charles Hudon continues to rack up points against the Roadrunners. His two assists on the power play gave him 11 points in seven games against the Roadrunners.

*The Reign are now 6-8-0 on the second night of a back-to-back.

UP NEXT: The Reign return to action at home on Wednesday night to take on the Abbotsford Canucks. The game starts at 7 PM PT and can be seen on AHLTV.

Featured image credit: Tucson Roadrunners

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