Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From 4-3 OT Win To San Diego

The Ontario Reign concluded their home games in the regular season with an overtime victory over the San Diego Gulls.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

ONT: Francesco Pinelli (11), ASST: Kim Nousiainen (9), Cole Krygier (9)

Second period:

SD: Drew Helleson (3), ASST: Sasha Pastujov (13), Glenn Gawdin (33)

ONT: PP Samuel Fagemo (40), ASST: Brandt Clarke (33), TJ Tynan (52)

SD: PP Trevor Carrick (9), ASST: Chase De Leo (33), Andrew Agozzino (36)

Third period: 

ONT: PS Taylor Ward (9), ASST: None

SD: Pavol Regenda (18), ASST: Andrew Agozzino (37), Drew Helleson (10)

Overtime: 

ONT: PP Samuel Fagemo (41), ASST: Alex Turcotte (17), TJ Tynan (53)

Stats

Goals:

SD: 3

ONT: 4

Shots: 

SD: 30

ONT: 39

Power plays: 

SD: 1/4

ONT: 2/3

Here are the three takeaways from Friday’s overtime victory

Fagemo plays hero

Samuel Fagemo didn’t start the season with the organization as he was claimed off waivers by the Nashville Predators a week before the season started. A month later he found himself back in the LA Kings organization as they claimed him off waivers in November when Nashville placed him back on there. Since Fagemo was originally with the Kings, and they were the only team to put in a waiver claim for him when they re-acquired him, they were able to send him down to Ontario where he has been a main staple on the Reign’s offense.

All he’s done is put the puck in the back of the net.

Fagemo had 39 goals entering the day and found himself at 41 by day’s end. Both of his goals came on the man advantage with the game tied. Reaching 40 goals wasn’t enough for Fagemo. After Gulls forward Glenn Gawdin committed a tripping penalty with 2:03 remaining in the extra session, the Reign sent out their number-one power play unit. The first option on that unit is Fagemo’s one-timer. While Fagemo didn’t connect on his two one-timer chances, he would get a third opportunity.

Alex Turcotte got the puck down low above the crease and drew one of the Gulls closer to him. Turcotte, the good passer that he is, quickly passed it to Fagemo, who was open after Turcotte drew the penalty killer shading Fagemo closer to him, and didn’t miss his chance as he won the game for the Reign to record goal number 41. Fagemo’s 41 goals are the most scored in a season by a Reign player (AHL history). Martin Frk previously held the record with 40 goals in the 2021-22 season.

Home turnaround

The Reign started the season at home with a pair of losses to the San Diego Gulls. Last night, they recorded their sixth straight win on home ice. Since February 9th, the Reign have recorded at least a point in 14 straight home games and won 11 of them. It’s a complete turnaround from the beginning of the season when they couldn’t buy a win on home ice. With the Reign in a dogfight with four other teams for home-ice advantage, securing a top-four seed while playing the remaining four games of the season on the road will be crucial. The ability to make Toyota Arena a tough place for opponents to play in lately is a confidence booster for the team heading into the postseason knowing they can win at home if they can secure home ice advantage.

Who will grab that number-one goalie spot?

The Reign have two goalies, Erik Portillo and Aaron Dell, who they can rely on any night. Both have played well recently. Since the middle of February, head coach Marco Sturm has gone to a goalie rotation except for March 22nd and 24th where Portillo started back-to-back games. With the playoffs around the corner, not many teams go with a rotation in the playoffs and have a clear number-one goalie.

After the game, I asked Sturm if that rotation would continue the rest of the way and heading into the playoffs. His response:

“It will change. In the playoffs, I want a number one. I’ve always been that way. We’re going to give our number one more games until the end.” – Sturm on the goalie rotation going forward.

When asked if he has an idea of who that number-one goalie is at this point, he responded with:

“We hope Portillo will grab it. He’s playing real well, but we also know Dell is playing well as well. Anything can happen.” – Sturm on who will be the number-one goalie come playoffs.

From the sound of Sturm’s postgame comments, it sounds like they are leaning toward Portillo as Sturm also mentioned they (the coaching staff) want to get him prepared for the playoffs. However, he did say anything can happen and that the best-of-three series in the first round will also play a factor in picking the right guy.

For now, it looks like they are leaning toward Portillo and want him to grab that number-one goalie spot with his play down the stretch. Also, Sturm confirmed that Portillo will be starting tonight against Henderson and it will be his first time starting both games on a back-to-back since December 21st.

NOTES:

*Andrew Agozzino recorded his second two-assist game against the Reign this season.

*Pavol Regenda recorded his fifth goal in six games against the Reign this season. He scored the first and last goal for the Gulls in the season series.

*Francesco Pinelli recorded his 3rd goal in the last five games. All three goals were the first goal of the game.

*Samuel Fagemo’s 41 goals on the season tie him with Adam Gaudette for the lead in the AHL.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign travel to Henderson to take on the Silver Knights for the final time this season. The game starts at 7 PM PT and can be seen on AHLTV.

Featured image credit: Ontario Reign 

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