Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From 2-1 Win Against Abbotsford

The Ontario Reign extended their win streak to five games on Sunday evening to keep pace with the Abbotsford Canucks in the standings.

Goal Breakdown

First period: 

None

Second period: 

ABB: SH Sheldon Dries (19), ASST: Jett Woo (15)

Third period: 

ONT: Francesco Pinelli (7), ASST: Joe Hicketts (13), Hayden Hodgson (6)

ONT: Luke Rowe (1), ASST: Joe Hicketts (14), Hayden Hodgson (7)

Stats

Goals:

ABB: 1

ONT: 2

Shots: 

ABB: 18

ONT: 35

Power plays: 

ABB: 0/2

ONT: 0/2

Here are the three takeaways from Sunday’s 2-1 victory:

Playoff feel

The Reign are Canucks entered last night’s matchup separated by two points in the standings. If the playoffs were to start yesterday, they would meet in the preliminary round (best-of-three) with all three meetings being in Abbotsford. Two points were at stake, and the physical play was evident from the drop of the puck. Teams were throwing hits, taking hits, and several pushing and shoving incidents post-whistle occurred.

Charles Hudon was one of a few players in the middle of the chippiness. During the Reign’s first power-play opportunity, Hudon appeared to catch a stick up high from Canucks captain Chase Wouters. About 10 seconds after the hit, Sheldon Dries scored a short-handed goal. During the celebration, Hudon skated over to Wouters but took a glove to the face from Canuck captain Nick Cicek. The officials made sure nothing happened, and no penalties were called.

With how physical and chippy it got, it’ll be something to keep an eye on in Wednesday’s rematch between the two teams.

Scoring never Dries up

Sheldon Dries has been a thorn in the Reign’s side his whole career, especially since he donned the Canucks jersey in the 2021-22 season. Dries’ short-handed tally in the second period marked his 15th goal in 30 career games against the Reign. The goal was also his 17th point in 13 career games against the Reign since he joined the Canucks. His scoring never dries up against the Reign.

Third-period rally

The Reign entered the third period outshooting the Canucks 20-10 but trailed 1-0 on the scoreboard. The Reign pushed the pace and threw everything at the net to start the period, but couldn’t solve Canucks netminder Arturs Silovs. Silovs stopped the first 13 shots on net he faced in the period, but shot number 14 found the back of the net as rookie Francesco Pinelli recorded his seventh goal of the year to tie the game at one with 10:14 remaining.

Up to this point, many of the Reign shots were good looks but there was not much traffic or second chance opportunities. Pinelli gets his stick out to re-direct the puck and follows up the rebound by not giving up on the play—credit to Jacob Doty for going to the net as well.

The Reign wouldn’t record a shot on goal again with 2:25 left in the game. That shot would end up being one that Silovs would want back as Luke Rowe, in his second game with the Reign, wound up a hard slapper from the center ice that squeaked through Silovs and rolled over the line to give the Reign a 2-1 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

It’s probably not how Rowe pictured his first career AHL would be scored, but as they say, it doesn’t matter how you score; the only part that matters is that you scored. This marks the second time in the last five games the Reign have put together a comeback in the third period. Games like these can be a confidence booster to a team by giving them a sense of belief that they are never out of a game.

NOTES:

*Sheldon Dries recorded his seventh point (4-3-7) against the Reign in five games this season.

*Arturs Silovs stopped 33 of 35 shots, while Erik Portillo stopped 17 of 18 shots.

*Hayden Hodgson recorded his first multi-point game of the season by assisting on both Reign goals.

*Joe Hicketts extended his point streak to seven games (1-11-12).

*Francesco Pinelli record his second goal in the last three games.

*Luke Rowe’s first career AHL goal stood as the game-winner.

*The Reign won three straight home games for the first this season.

UP NEXT: These two clubs will meet again at Toyota Arena on Wednesday, March 6th, for the final time this season. The game starts at 7 PM PT and can be seen on AHLTV.

Featured image credit: Mike Zitek/Ontario Reign

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