Ontario Reign: Notes From 4-3 Victory Over Texas

The comeback kids did it again! Trailing late in the third period, the Ontario Reign found a way to steal two points with a come-from-behind victory on the road.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

TEX: Sean Chisholm (1), ASST: Trey Taylor (5), Curtis McKenzie (8)

Second period:

TEX: Harrison Scott (8), ASST: Cameron Hughes (26), Luke Krys (2)

ONT: Kenta Isogai (1), ASST: None

ONT: PP Cole Guttman (10), ASST: Martin Chromiak (14), Nikita Alexandrov (24)

TEX: Michael Karow (4), ASST: Cameron Hughes (27), Matthew Seminoff (9)

Third period:

ONT: Cole Guttman (11), ASST: Koehn Ziemmer (9), Martin Chromiak (15)

ONT: Jared Wright (9), ASST: Francesco Pinelli (12), Kenny Connors (14)

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 4

TEX: 3

Shots:

ONT: 28

TEX: 20

Power plays:

ONT: 1/3

TEX: 0/3

Here are the notes from Saturday night’s 4-3 victory:

Comeback kids at it again

Ontario has proven not be counted out of a game this year. This team has found ways to win when they haven’t brought their best, and recently found ways to win late in games when trailing. Trailing 2-0 in the middle frame, they tied it. Trailing 3-2 entering the third period was a familiar sight from Wednesday’s game against Colorado. Texas had two attempts at the empty cage, as one of them was Glenn Gawdin, who denied Jack Becker’s attempt with a diving stick save.

That set the stage late.

Ontario, with good puck retrievals in the offensive zone, struck gold with 14 seconds remaining on Cole Guttman’s tally. That wasn’t the end. After the faceoff, the Reign immediately went on the attack, and Jared Wright, with a bit of good fortune, banked the puck into the net off a Star player from behind the red line with 1.4 seconds left to play, sealing another successful comeback bid from the Reign.

The comeback kids did it again. Or, as Joe Hicketts said after the game, “The cardiac kids are at it again.”

Power play is clicking

The Reign’s power play continues to provide the power. Since changing the top unit to a five-forward one, Ontario has scored at least a power-play goal in eight of its last nine games. Both units have done exceptionally well, particularly the five-forward unit. The Reign went 1-for-3 on the man advantage on Guttman’s second-period marker, which started with a great zone entry by Nikita Alexandrov, then a great dish by Martin Chromiak, and eventually Guttman’s goal. In this nine-game stretch, the Reign are 10-for-34 (29.4%) on the man advantage.

Goalie rotation continues

After the team’s 3-0 shutout win over the Iowa Wild, Andrew Lord was happy to have both Erik Portillo (healthy) and Pheonix Copley (back from the Kings) between the pipes. He also sounded extremely confident about having either goalie start a game. Since Portillo’s return from injury, Portillo and Copley have rotated starts. Yesterday was Portillo’s turn to man the net, and he turned aside 17 of 20 shots in the victory. If the trend continues, especially since it’s a back-to-back, I would expect Copley to get the start tonight.

Cole Guttman continues to be Texas’ worst nightmare

Guttman haunted the Stars when he was a member of the Rockford IceHogs. As a member of the IceHogs, Guttman tallied 19 points in 20 games against the Stars. Despite changing jerseys in the offseason, Guttman has continued to make an impact in games against Texas this season. In three games against Texas, Guttman has four points, including his two-goal game that saw him tie the game with 14 seconds remaining in regulation on a nice give-and-go with Koehn Ziemmer.

OTHER NOTES:

*Kenta Isogai scored his first AHL goal.

*Samuel Bolduc played in his 300th professional game.

*With his assist, Kenny Connors has a three-game point streak and has six points in his last six games.

*Chromiak’s two assists gave him five in his last two games. Four of those helpers have been primary ones.

*Ontario is now 5-9-0-0 when trailing after two periods. They have won four of their last five when in that scenario.

*Ontario is currently 3-1-0-0 on the six-game road trip.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign and Texas Stars meet again in Cedar Park for the rematch this afternoon/tonight. The game starts at 3 PM PST, and you can watch it on FloHockey. If you are unable to watch the game, you can listen to it on the Ontario Reign Radio Network or on the ESPN LA app.

Featured image credit: Texas Stars

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