Ontario Reign: Takeaways From 4-2 Loss to Coachella Valley

The Ontario Reign couldn’t maintain their lead entering the second period and fell to the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Sunday afternoon.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

CV: Tucker Robertson (1), ASST: Eduard Sale (5), Ian McKinnon (2)

ONT: PP Martin Chromiak (3), ASST: Aatu Jamsen (1), Joe Hicketts (7)

ONT: Martin Chromiak (4), ASST: Samuel Fagemo (4), Aatu Jamsen (2)

Second period:

CV: Ville Ottavainen (2), ASST: None

CV: Ryan Winterton (4), ASST: Logan Morrison (1), Eduard Sale (6)

Third period:

CV: EN Lleyton Roed (3), ASST: Ryan Winterton (4), Ben Meyers (6)

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 2

CV: 4

Shots: 

ONT: 39

CV: 27

Power plays:

ONT: 1/3

CV: 0/3

Here are the three takeaways from Sunday’s 4-2 defeat

The second period was the difference

After Tucker Robertson gave the Firebirds an early lead the Reign bounced back. They outshot the Firebirds 17-7 in the remaining 17 minutes of the opening frame by getting clean zone entries and having a shoot-first mentality. Their effort was rewarded with two goals, one on the power play, and a lead after 20 minutes. Their 19 shots on goal surpassed their total in Friday’s game (16).

However, the second period mirrored Friday’s game. The Firebirds started to control the neutral zone with their transition, forechecking game, and speed. While the shots on goal tracker for the middle frame will say 9-6 in favor of the home team, the offensive zone time favored the Firebirds. The Reign couldn’t sustain offensive zone time like they did in the opening frame, and it cost them.

Ville Ottavainen tied the game by going coast-to-coast in transition nearly halfway in the frame. Ryan Winterton gave the Firebirds the lead off a Reign turnover along the boards, a play started by Winterton himself throwing a hit on the forecheck.

While the Reign started the period well by blocking shots, giving a team like Coachella Valley constant offensive zone time with mistakes will hurt you, whether it’s a five or ten-minute stretch. Unfortunately, the second period ended up being the difference in the game for the Reign.

Martin Chromiak scores the only two Reign goals

After scoring eight goals in back-to-back games with contributions from up and down the lineup before this two-game weekend series against Coachella Valley, only four players recorded a point yesterday. However, there was one bright spot offensively from a prospect. That prospect was Martin Chromiak.

Chromiak scored his third and fourth goal of the season in the first period for the Reign, which was the only period the Reign scored in. The first goal was on the power play on a wrist shot from the right circle. The second goal was in the slot off a pass from Samuel Fagemo on the left half-wall.

Despite the -2 rating, Chromiak was one of a few Reign forwards noticeable throughout the game and seemed to have gotten more ice time in the third period as Marco Sturm tinkered with the lines midway through the period trying to find some late-game offense.

Chromiak’s goals, assists, points, and shots on goal are nearly identical when looking at his first ten games last year and this one. However, the one difference I’ve noticed is that Chromiak has been much more engaged in the offensive zone to start the year and if he keeps it up he could see better point production than last year. That’s IF he keeps it up.

Shuffling the deck

Marco Sturm has never chosen to use an 11/7 lineup when having a healthy roster. Sturm had to use an 11/7 lineup at the last minute because the Reign didn’t have enough forwards to play to use a traditional 12/6 format with Taylor Ward unavailable.

After recording a goal and an assist in Friday’s matchup, Ward wasn’t available for undisclosed reasons. Whether it’s an injury or illness is something to track leading into Wednesday’s game against the Tucson Roadrunners. If Ward is unavailable, Sturm has the option to run an 11/7 lineup again, or, another option is the LA Kings can reassign Kaleb Lawrence from the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to the AHL so the Reign can have enough healthy bodies in the forward group.

NOTES:

*With his two goals in the first period, Chromiak now has 13 points in 19 career regular-season games against the Firebirds.

*Aatu Jamsen recorded his first multi-point game in North America with two assists.

*Eduard Sale and Winterton recorded two points each. They both have four points in three games against the Reign this season.

UP NEXT: The Reign’s next game will be a Wednesday night matchup at home against the Tucson Roadrunners at Toyota Arena. The game starts at 7 PM PT and can be seen on FloSports and KCAL+ (channel 9.6). You can also listen to the game on the ESPN LA app.

Featured image credit: Mike Zitek/Coachella Valley Firebirds

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