A four-goal first period set the table as the Colorado Eagles won the season finale game against the Ontario Reign, 6-3.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

COL: Jack Achan (6), ASST: Peter Holland (9), Corey Schueneman (17)

ONT: Francesco Pinelli (13), ASST: Alex Turcotte (19), Taylor Ward (21)

COL: Nikolai Kovalenko (1), ASST: Tanner Kero (21)

COL: Riley Tufte (22), ASST: Jack Achan (32), Callahan Burke (22)

COL: PP Riely Tufte (23), ASST: Nikolai Kovalenko (2), Sam Malinski (21)

Second period:

COL: PP Peter Holland (14), ASST: Sam Malinski (22), Jean-Luc Foudy (10)

ONT: Jacob Doty (7), ASST: Steven Santini (14), Nikita Pavlychev (4)

ONT: Martin Chromiak (15), ASST: Charles Hudon (34), Steven Santini (15)

Third period:

COL: Spencer Smallman (12), ASST: Callahan Burke (23), Corey Schueneman (18)

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 3

COL: 6

Shots:

ONT: 31

COL: 35

Power plays:

ONT: 0/2

COL: 2/4

Here are the three takeaways from Sunday’s 6-3 defeat

Eagles fly high

After being outplayed on their home ice less than 24 hours before this game, the Colorado Eagles came out flying from the opening puck drop. They’re an aggressive forechecking team that plays physically. It’s always tough to win a two-game series in the regular season against them in Colorado, and it doesn’t help for opponents that their fans are always loud. Entering the game, they still had home-ice advantage in the first round to play for. From the puck drop, they were a team that was playing determined and it showed. The Reign had no answer for their aggressiveness, and it led to a 4-1 deficit for the visiting team.

The four-goal first period by the Eagles set the tone which helped them claim the fourth seed and home-ice advantage in the first round against the Abbotsford Canucks. It was a tough day at the office for all the Reign skaters, including rookie goalie Erik Portillo.

Francesco Pinelli ends the season strong

Francesco Pinelli was probably the most improved Reign player from the first half to the second half of the season. Early in the year he struggled and went through that adjustment phase all rookies go through when coming over from juniors to the AHL, and was a healthy scratch at times. Before the all-star break, he had eight points in 39 games, and after the all-star break, he posted 12 points in 28 games. Not a big jump, but watching him play you can see he started to get comfortable with the skill and speed in the AHL. He started to look confident and became a leader on his line as opposed to playing passively like he was early in the year.

That confidence in his skillset, which includes driving play, play-making, and playing that east-to-west style skating on the rush entering the offensive zone, earned the coaching staff’s trust and he didn’t look back. He capped off a strong second half of the season with his 13th goal. His 13 goals ranked first among rookie skaters on the team.

Playoff opponent determined

The regulation loss determined the Reign’s first-round series opponent. That opponent is the Bakersfield Condors. It was a tight season series that saw the Reign take five of the eight games, including the last three by identical 4-3 scores. The Reign will have two days to prepare as the series starts on Wednesday.

NOTES:

*The Reign finished the season with 42 wins.

*Charles Hudon returned to the lineup after missing the last seven games.

*TJ Tynan, Samuel Fagemo, and Tyler Madden did not play as they were healthy scratches to give each player a rest.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign return to action on Wednesday, April 24th, for game one in their best-of-three series against the Bakersfield Condors. Game time for that game is at 7 PM PT.

Featured image credit: Colorado Eagles

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