Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From 5-0 Loss to Iowa

The Ontario Reign and Iowa met for the first time since the 2019-20 season and it was a forgettable night for the Reign in a 5-0 loss.

Goal Breakdown

First period: 

IA: Caedan Bankier (7), ASST: Luke Toporowski (8)

IA: Graeme Clarke (7), ASST: Liam Ohgren (7), Hunter Haight (8)

IA: Graeme Clarke (8), ASST: Liam Ohgren (8), Hunter Haight (9)

Second period: 

IA: Carson Lambos (3), ASST: Liam Ohgren (9), Graeme Clarke (3)

Third period:

IA: Adam Raska (1), ASST: Sammy Walker (8)

Stats

Goals:

IA: 5

ONT: 0

Shots: 

IA:

ONT:

Power plays:

IA: 0/0

ONT: 0/2

Here are the three takeaways from last night’s 5-0 defeat:

Nothing went right

The Reign were off from the beginning. Everything went wrong. They trailed 1-0 less than three minutes in on a goal that snuck in short side on Pheonix Copley (more about him later). With the Reign averaging over three goals a game (3.53), there’s always that feeling they’re never out of a game. Unfortunately, the Reign couldn’t get that goal back and the Wild added on. Graeme Clarke put Iowa up by two 7:40 later and added another goal in the final minute to put the visitors up 3-0 heading into the intermission.

The power play went 0-for-2, they couldn’t get the puck past Samuel Hlavaj, and the passing wasn’t crisp throughout the whole night for the third straight game. Add up all those things, and you get a 5-0 defeat on home ice. The Reign’s inability to connect with their passing and breakouts is an area they have to improve on, or similar results like last night can happen again. The good news for the Reign is they get a shot at redemption against the Wild on Sunday.

Copley gets pulled for Ontario; Hlavaj gets a shutout for Iowa

Copley made 12 saves on 15 shots (.800 sv%) in the first period. Caedan Bankier snuck one short side on him from the half wall to get Iowa ahead, a goal that Copley should’ve stopped and would probably want to have back.

After that, Copley made two key saves but looked shaky as well. After the first intermission, I wondered if Marco Sturm would switch in net or tweak the lines to try to spark his club; he went with the former. Erik Portillo started the middle frame and made 9 saves on 11 shots in the game. The move didn’t make a difference in the end.

On to Hlavaj.

Hlavaj entered the day with an .895 sv% and turned aside all 34 Reign shots, including some help with the post on two occasions, for his first AHL shutout. Hlavaj was fantastic in net for Iowa and made some big saves in the final 40 minutes, including a right pad save sliding across to deny Taylor Ward. He was the game’s number-one star for his performance.

The power play still struggles

The power play has been a big issue for the Reign this season and was again on Friday. The one penalty in the game was a double-minor penalty to David Spacek for high-sticking Charles Hudon in the second period. With a chance to get on the board, and possibly two goals, the Reign came away empty-handed against the league’s worst penalty kill. Zone entries weren’t clean and the only dangerous chance was a Glenn Gawdin wrist shot from the right circle Hlavaj tracked the whole way. It was an easy penalty kill for the visitors. An opportunity for momentum went against the Reign.

NOTES:

*Liam Ohgren (3 A) and Clarke (2 G, 1 A) had three points each. No, not Brandt…Graeme Clarke. Brandt’s brother.

*According to Jared Shafarn on the broadcast, Joe Hicketts missed the game with an injury, Angus Booth moved up to Hicketts’ spot on the first pair with Jack Millar, and Luke Rowe was inserted into the lineup on the third pair with Cole Krygier.

*Francesco Pinelli has gone scoreless in the last three games after scoring at least one goal in four straight games.

*The Reign were shut out for the second time this season. Ironically, the score of that game was a 5-0 home loss in the season opener to the San Jose Barracuda.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign and Iowa Wild meet again in a rematch on Sunday. The game starts at 3 PM PST and can be seen on FloHockey and KCAL+ (channel 9.6). You can also listen to the game on the ESPN LA app.

Featured image credit: Mike Zitek/Ontario Reign

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