Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From 4-3 OT Win vs San Diego

The Ontario Reign survived a late collapse with a 4-3 overtime win over the San Diego Gulls to salvage a weekend split.

Goal Breakdown

First period: 

ONT: Glenn Gawdin (2), ASST: Andre Lee (5)

ONT: Glenn Gawdin (3), ASST: Cole Guttman (3), Jakub Dvořák (1)

Second period: 

ONT: Aatu Jamsen (4), ASST: Koehn Ziemmer (3), Jack Hughes (2)

SD: Jan Myšák (2), ASST: Sasha Pastujov (5), Roland McKeown (3)

SD: Noah Warren (1), ASST: None

Third period: 

SD: Tim Washe (6), ASST: Matthew Phillips (10), Ryan Carpenter (4)

Overtime:

ONT: Kyle Burroughs (1), ASST: Cole Guttman (4), Joe Hicketts (6)

Stats

Goals:

SD: 3

ONT: 4

Shots: 

SD: 32

ONT: 21

Power plays: 

SD: 0/3

ONT: 0/1

Here are the takeaways from last night’s 4-3 OT win:

Gawds for 2!

It’s been a slow start to the season for Glenn Gawdin. His lone goal was an empty-net goal against Abbotsford to start the Reign trip; he couldn’t buy a goal. Even with his slow start, he has still been an important player in the Reign lineup in all situations.

He finally broke out last night.

Gawdin scored twice in a span of 3:39 in the opening frame for his second and third goals of the season. He had three chances to get a hat trick, but had a goal waved off due to a high stick when he wacked the puck out of the air and into the net, a missed penalty shot late in the third period to extend the Reign’s lead, and a post shot in overtime.

While Gawdin might have missed out on a hat trick multiple times, getting off the goalless schneid and helping the Reign earn two points is all that matters.

Offensive defenseman Kyle Burroughs!?

Kyle Burroughs isn’t known for his scoring, but for a brief moment last night, he was. The Reign outplayed the Gulls in the opening 20 minutes, jumping out to a 2-0 advantage, but let their foot off the gas, allowing San Diego to creep back in the game.

A late third-period goal by the Gulls meant overtime, and somebody was going to be the hero.

Insert Burroughs.

With the Reign having possession in the Gulls’ end, Burroughs came off the bench for Joe Hicketts to join the play. Cole Guttman, the player who had the puck, noticed, found Burroughs jumping into the play, and the defenseman roofed one glove side by Ville Husso for the game-winner.

The unlikeliest of goal scorers turned out to be the hero.

Prospect watch

This year’s Reign roster is injected with more prospects than last year’s. Some had a good showing last night. Jared Wright was one of them. He didn’t have a point or a shot on goal, but the rookie was constantly putting pressure on the puck in the forecheck and even had a nice keep-in at the blue line that led to a good scoring chance.

Aatu Jamsen and Koehn Ziemmer teamed up for Ontario’s third goal. Jamsen has a good shot, but is more known for his crafty playmaking. Ziemmer, contrary to Jamsen, is known for his shot. The roles were reversed yesterday. Ziemmer made a nice pass to Jamsen from the wall, and the latter placed the puck perfectly by Calle Clang.

Erik Portillo had another strong game in net. He stopped 29 of 32 shots for his fourth straight win. He has a 2.27 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage in eight games to start the year.

NOTES:

*Glenn Gawdin had a game-high six shots on goal.

*Cole Guttman had his first multi-assist game (2 assists) with the Reign.

*Joe Hicketts tallied three points in the two games against San Diego this weekend.

*Tim Washe of San Diego extended his point streak to four games (3 G, 3 A) with his last third-period goal.

*Kyle Burroughs scored his first goal since April 11th, 2024, when he was a member of the San Jose Sharks (NHL). He has been paired with Kirill Kirsanov in his three games with the Reign.

*The Reign are 5-0-0-0 after a loss this year.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign hit the road for a three-game road trip. Game one of the road starts Tuesday, November 11th, in Calgary. Puck drop is at 5 PM PST and can be seen on FloHockey. You can also listen to the game on the Ontario Reign radio network and the ESPN LA app.

Featured image credit: Ontario Reign

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