Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From 3-2 Loss to Calgary

The Ontario Reign’s comeback bid fell short as the Calgary Wranglers hung on for a series split with a 3-2 win.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

CGY: Martin Frk (4), ASST: Dryden Hunt (8), Carter King (1)

Second period: 

CGY: SH Clark Bishop (3), ASST: David Silye (3)

ONT: Akil Thomas (4), ASST: Martin Chromiak (4)

Third period:

ONT: Jakub Dvořák (2), ASST: Francesco Pinelli (6), Kenny Connors (5)

CGY: PP Aydar Suniev (4), ASST: William Stromgren (9), Hunter Brzustewicz (6)

Stats

Goals: 

ONT: 2

CGY: 3

Shots: 

ONT: 23

CGY: 32

Power plays: 

ONT: 0/4

CGY: 1/3

Here are the three takeaways from Wednesday’s 3-2 defeat: 

Erik Portillo leaves the game early

It’s been a great start for Erik Portillo as he returns from a back injury. Unfortunately, that redemption tour might have hit a bump in the road. Portillo started the game but left less than three minutes into the game with an apparent injury.

Watching the play live and the replay on FloHockey, Portillo looked to have taken a bump to his left side while leaning up against the right post in the blue paint by Wrangler forward Alex Gallant. After receiving the contact, Portillo looked uncomfortable and fell slowly and awkwardly down on his left side.

Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers

Down for a bit, Portillo was able to get up, with help from the head athletic trainer Cody Marean, and skated to the locker room under his own power. Head coach Andrew Lord, after the game with Cam McGuire and Paige Capistran, said the team will get more of an ‘assessment’ the following day.

Pheonix Copley came in relief and made 27 saves on 30 shots. If Portillo has to miss an extended amount of time, Isaiah Saville is a likely candidate to get called up from the Greenville Swamp Rabbits.

Special teams loom large

Special teams loomed large in the third period. The Reign had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:33 in the third period, down by one, but couldn’t convert. Akil Thomas had the best chance in the bumper spot on a feed from Aatu Jamsen from the goal line that was denied by netminder Ivan Prosvetov.

Side note: I liked the setup with Jamsen on the goal line on the power play. His vision and soft hands allow him to find the player in the high danger area for the scoring chance.

In their last eight games, the Reign’s power play is 3-for-27 (11.1%) and has surrendered three short-handed goals, including Clark Bishop’s second-period strike. Simply put, they need to be better and convert in key moments in the game, even though they tied it shortly after the 5-on-3.

As for the penalty kill, they have turned it around in the past three games, but Calgary broke through at the 9:03 mark of the third period on Aydar Suniev’s fourth tally of the season on a nice cross-ice pass by William Stromgren from the left circle.

Credit to Calgary’s special team units. They came up big in the third period.

Series split

It wasn’t the best game from the Reign, especially in the second period, where they were outshot 12-4. Calgary’s puck pressure from the F1 on the forecheck and neutral zone defense was better than the previous night. Although the Reign weren’t sharper with the puck the night before, they still had a chance to tie it. A series split on the road against a physical team like Calgary is always a win.

NOTES:

*The Reign went 1-1-0-0 in their only visit to Calgary this season. The final two meetings will be at Toyota Arena on December 6th and 7th.

*Akil Thomas’ goal was his 4th of the season. He leads the team with 11 points.

*Jakub Dvořák tallied his 2nd goal of the season.

*Kenny Connors continues to fly under the radar. He recorded a secondary assist on Jakub Dvořák’s game-tying goal in the middle frame, giving him eight points (3 G, 5 A) in 14 games. He leads all rookie skaters on the Reign with eight points, and his +11 rating leads the team.

*With the loss, the Reign are 1-4-0-0 when trailing after two periods.

*Martin Frk scored his 4th goal in 10 games against his former club.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign head to San Jose again to conclude the mini three-game road trip this Saturday, November 15th. It’ll be the fourth matchup between the two teams in less than a month. The puck drops shortly after 6 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: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers

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