Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From 6-2 Loss to Henderson

The Ontario Reign saw their three-game win streak snapped with a 6-2 drubbing at the hands of the Henderson Silver Knights.

Goal Breakdown

First period: 

ONT: Aatu Jamsen (2), ASST: Jack Hughes (2)

ONT: Jared Wright (2), ASST: Andre Lee (3), Kenny Connors (3)

HSK: Kai Uchaz (1), ASST: Jaycob Megna (2), Mitch McLain (3)

Second period:

HSK: Ben Hemmerling (2), ASST: Tanner Laczynski (4), Jeremy Davies (3)

HSK: Tuomas Uronen (2), ASST: Jackson Hallum (3), Viliam Kmec (3)

HSK: Dylan Coghlan (2), ASST: Braeden Bowman (1), Jakub Brabenec (3)

Third period:

HSK: Braeden Bowman (4), ASST: Raphael Lavoie (3), Jakub Brabenec (4)

HSK: Braeden Bowman (5), ASST: Raphael Lavoie (4), Dylan Coghlan (3)

Stats

Goals: 

ONT: 2

HSK: 6

Shots: 

ONT: 33

HSK: 24

Power plays: 

ONT: 0/1

HSK: 0/1

Here are the three takeaways from Wednesday night’s 6-2 defeat:

Jamsen and Wright find the back of the net

The start for the Reign was good (more on the rest of the game in a bit). Ontario got goals from prospects Aatu Jamsen and Jared Wright, 39 seconds apart, to take a 2-0 lead just shy of 11 minutes into the contest.

Jamsen showed off his crafty hands, stickhandling by a Silver Knights defender, and flipping the puck by Cameron Whitehead on his backhand to open the scoring. What gets lost in the highlight reel goal was Jack Hughes’ vision to set Jamsen up.

Jared Wright’s tally came 39 seconds after Jamsen put the Reign on the board. After a Kenny Connors faceoff win, Andre Lee put the puck on net, and Wright, in the wright place at the wright time (see what I did there?), put home the rebound by the right of Whitehead for a 2-0 lead.

Unfortunately for the Reign, it would be a good start from two late-round prospects that would go to waste.

Henderson flurry

The Reign went into the locker room with a one-goal lead through 20 minutes. Then the second period and the floodgates opened. Henderson scored not one, not two, but three goals in a span of 2:27 to take a 4-2 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

It was a snowball that turned into an avalanche of six unanswered goals.

It was a rough night for the Reign for most of the players, including goaltender Pheonix Copley. Not all the goals can be pinned on Copley, as turnovers and defensive zone breakdowns came to the forefront on some of the goals, but there were some he either could’ve stopped or should’ve stopped.

Cameron Whitehead stands tall

After the Reign scored twice in 39 seconds, it seemed as if Cameron Whitehead was a brick wall in net for Henderson. Although the Reign were trailing, they had plenty of good scoring chances that Whitehead denied. Vegas’ 2022 fourth-round pick had himself a heck of a game, stopping 31 of 33 Ontario shots to earn his second win of the young season.

The only blemish on his night was not being named one of the game’s three stars. In my opinion, he should have been the second or third star with his performance.

NOTES:

*Henderson extended their win streak to five games.

*Angus Booth returned from an injury he suffered during training camp, making his season debut.

*Jared Wright scored a goal for the second straight game.

*Andre Lee extended his point streak to three games.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign are back in action on Friday. If you don’t have any Halloween plans, you can catch the game on FloHockey or the Ontario Reign radio network. Puck drop is shortly after 7 PM PST.

Featured image credit: Henderson Silver Knights

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