Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From 4-3 Victory Over San Jose

With some late-game magic, the Ontario Reign avoided an 0-2 start with a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Barracuda Sunday afternoon.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

ONT: Tyler Madden (1), ASST: Martin Chromiak (1), Jakub Dvorak (1)

SJ: Tristen Robins (1), ASST: Jimmy Schuldt (1), Jake Furlong (1)

SJ: Collin Graf (2), ASST: None

Second period:

SJ: Filip Bystedt (1), ASST: Tristen Robins (1)

ONT: Martin Chromiak (1), ASST: Tyler Madden (1)

Third period:

ONT: Samuel Helenius (1), ASST: Glenn Gawdin (1), Joe Hicketts (1)

ONT: Samuel Helenius (2), ASST: Jeff Malott (1)

Stats

Goals:

SJ: 3

ONT: 4

Shots:

SJ: 22

ONT: 39

Power plays: 

SJ: 0/3

ONT: 0/6

Here are the three takeaways from Sunday’s 4-3 victory:

Rise of the Pheonix

307 days. That was the last time Pheonix Copley was in an NHL game before suffering an ACL injury in practice nearly ten months ago. Copley started the second game of the back-to-back weekend series and made 19 saves to earn the win. The result for Copley in this game shouldn’t matter, even though getting the win is nice. What matters is him getting game action and getting back into rhythm.

His first goal allowed showed the rust as the puck squeaked by him on a harmless shot from Tristen Robins from the bottom of the right circle. There were also moments of key saves in the second period and the final seconds that kept the Reign within one or holding onto their lead.

He also got feisty with Andrew Poturalski. It’s good to see him back on the ice in general.

Jamsen and Dvorak make their Reign debuts

After being healthy scratches in Saturday’s 5-0 defeat, forward Aatu Jamsen and defenseman Jakub Dvorak were inserted into the lineup, making their Reign debuts. Dvorak recorded an assist on Tyler Madden’s goal in the first period, which was made possible after a nice keep-in at the blue line by Dvorak himself. Jamsen was held scoreless and attempted a Michigan but couldn’t convert on the attempt (perhaps we’ll see that a lot this year).

For both players, it was their first professional game in North America. There were some good and bad both players will learn throughout the year as they adjust to the style of the game in North America.

Jamsen’s skating looked just as advertised but the time and space will be an adjustment for him with the smaller ice sheet compared to Liiga’s (Europe). As for Dvorak, he is still raw and the process will probably be a little longer with him. After all, he is just 19 years old.

Sammy with the finnishing touch

Samuel Helenius isn’t known for his offense, but Marco Sturm sent him out there in the final two minutes as the extra attacker with under two minutes with the Reign trailing 3-2. Sturm’s trust in the big centerman got rewarded with not only the tying goal but also the game-winning goal. Helenius’ two goals in 41 seconds in the final 1:15 gave the Reign their first victory of the season in comeback fashion. When the Reign needed some late-game magic they got it as Helenius provided the finishing touch to complete the comeback.

Remember when Jeff Malott and Helenius got into a fight at one of the scrimmages during training camp? Well, they teamed up for the game-winning goal with Malott getting the primary assist. I guess they’re best friends now.

NOTES

*The Reign were 4-16-1 when trailing after two periods last year. They’re already off to a good start in that category with yesterday’s comeback win.

*Madden scored the first goal of the season for the Reign.

*Dvorak’s secondary assist on Madden’s goal was his first point as a member of the Reign.

*The Reign power play is 0/13 to start the year. I’m confident Sturm and his coaching staff will work on special teams in practice this week.

*Yesterday was Helenius’ second multi-goal game of his professional career in North America.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign won’t be in action again until Friday, October 18th, when they take on the Bakersfield Condors at home at 7 PM PT. That game can be seen on FloHockey TV.

Featured image credit: Mike Zitek/Ontario Reign

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