A wild Wednesday night game saw the Ontario Reign come away with the victory in overtime against the Henderson Silver Knights.

Goal Breakdown

First period: 

HSK: Jake Bischoff (5), ASST: Grigori Denisenko (31), Brendan Brisson (20)

HSK: Mason Geertsen (5), ASST: Jett Jones (2), Lukas Cormier (16)

ONT: Samuel Fagemo (38), ASST: Brandt Clarke (31), TJ Tynan (49)

ONT: Hayden Hodgson (5), ASST: None

Second period: 

ONT: PP Andre Lee (6), TJ Tynan (50), Tyler Madden (16)

Third period: 

HSK: Brendan Brisson (16), ASST: Grigori Denisenko (32), Kaedan Korzcak (8)

ONT: Colton Young (2), ASST: Kim Nousiainen (7), Wyatte Wylie (10)

HSK: SH Jonas Rondbjerg (7), ASST: Byron Froese (13)

Overtime: 

ONT: Samuel Fagemo (39), ASST: TJ Tynan (51)

Stats

Goals: 

ONT: 5

HSK: 4

Shots: 

ONT: 34

HSK: 33

Power plays: 

ONT: 1/3

HSK: 0/2

Here are the three takeaways from Wednesday’s overtime victory:

Fagemo with a strong performance in return

Samuel Fagemo returned to the lineup after missing the previous three games with a minor injury. Fagemo didn’t miss a beat as he scored on his first shot of the game, which was also the Reign’s first shot on goal, on a backhander to put the Reign on the board after the Silver Knights took a 2-0 lead 2:06 into the contest. Fagemo wasn’t done there. In the overtime session, Silver Knights forward Brendan Brisson looked like he won the game for Henderson, but the puck hit both posts and stayed out. TJ Tynan picked up the rebound and sped through the neutral zone creating a two-on-one attempt for the Reign. After crossing the offensive blue line, Tynan fed the puck to Fagemo in the left circle and his one-timer found the back of the net for the overtime winner.

Fagemo led all skaters with six shots on goal and has 11 multi-goal games in 44 games played (25%) since being claimed off waivers and assigned to the Reign in November.

Slow start

The Reign found themselves down 2-0 in the first period for the second time in the last three games. Aaron Dell has shown to get off to slow starts and get better as the game goes along, and last night was no different. Henderson struck twice less than three minutes into the game, and it looked like it would be a long night for Ontario. However, as they have shown in the last month, they aren’t fazed by being down two goals early in a game. There’s a belief among the bench that they can come back and still snag two points.

After Henderson took their 2-0 lead the Reign rebounded well, started spending time in the offensive zone, were more crisp with the puck, and Dell started to find a rhythm. After 20 minutes had ended, the game was tied as Fagemo and Hayden Hodgson found the back of the net for Ontario. While it’s great to see the Reign find ways to win, they may not want to fall into the habit of sloppy, slow starts with the playoffs around the corner.

Bottom six players continue to contribute

All year long the Reign have gotten contributions from everyone in the lineup. Last year, if their top two scorers didn’t impact the game, the chances of winning a game were slim. This year has been a different story. Whether the top six is making an impact or not, they have gotten scoring from the bottom six and defensemen who don’t find the scoresheet as much.

Ontario got three goals from players in the bottom six forward group yesterday, including a power-play goal from Andre Lee, who was on the first power-play unit with Charles Hudon out of the lineup. Kim Nousiainen and Wyatte Wylie added an assist each on Colton Young’s goal in the third period. With the playoffs approaching, secondary scoring from their depth players will be key for the Reign in their first-round playoff series.

NOTES:

*Samuel Fagemo’s two goals gave him 39 on the year, which leads the AHL.

*TJ Tynan’s three-assist night gave him 51 on the year, which leads the AHL.

*Tyler Madden extended his point streak to six games with an assist on Andre Lee’s goal in the second period.

*Brandt Clarke leads all rookie defensemen in points-per-game (0.91) with at least ten games played.

*With the win, the Reign’s win extends to six games and have sole possession of second place in the division.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign return home to take on the San Jose Barracuda on Saturday, April 6th. The game starts at 6 PM PT and can be seen on AHLTV.

Featured image credit: Henderson Silver Knights

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