Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From 5-3 Win Over the Roadrunners

The Ontario Reign swept the weekend series against the Roadrunners with a 5-3 victory yesterday afternoon.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

ONT: Andre Lee (20), ASST: Martin Chromiak (22), Kenny Connors (19)

Second period: 

TUC: Scott Perunovich (4), ASST: Miko Matikka (6), Owen Allard (7)

ONT: PP Andre Lee (21), ASST: Aatu Jamsen (9), Samuel Bolduc (15)

ONT: PP Martin Chromiak (17), ASST: Glenn Gawdin (29), Nikita Alexandrov (32)

TUC: PP Austin Poganski (14), ASST: Daniil But (10), Dmitri Simashev (18)

ONT: SH Jared Wright (13), ASST: Kenny Connors (20)

Third period: 

TUC: SH Kevin Rooney (11), ASST: Owen Allard (8)

ONT: EN Jared Wright (14), ASST: Andre Lee (15)

Stats

Goals: 

ONT: 5

TUC: 3

Shots: 

ONT: 25

TUC: 28

Power plays: 

ONT: 2/5

TUC: 1/3

Here are the three takeaways from Sunday afternoon’s 5-3 victory:

Four players have multi-point games

When offensively clicking, the Reign can spread the scoring wealth, making them a successful unit. In this contest, Ontario received multi-point performances from Martin Chromiak (one goal & one assist), Kenny Connors (two assists), Andre Lee (two goals & one assist), and Jared Wright (two goals) — all prospects in the LA Kings pipeline.

Lee scored in back-to-back games for the fifth time this year, Chromiak snapped a seven-game goal drought, Connors recorded his first multi-point game in his last 12 outings with the Reign, and Wright tallied his first multi-goal game as a professional.

Connors and Wright team up for a short-handed goal with Wright using his speed to break ahead of the Roadrunners, creating a two-on-one opportunity that the duo converted. Offense by committee has been the Reign’s calling card all season, and it was one of the stories of the game yesterday.

Special teams rules this game

Special teams played a big role in both teams’ scoring. The two clubs combined for eight goals, and five came on special teams. The Reign scored twice on the power play and added a short-handed goal, while the Roadrunners scored once on both the man advantage and short-handed. Despite the power play and short-handed goal against, Ontario ended the month 7-for-30 (23.3%) on the power play and 17-for-19 on the penalty kill (89.5%).

Portillo makes 25 saves in the victory

Since Erik Portillo returned from injury on January 3rd, Head Coach Andrew Lord has gone with a goalie rotation. Yesterday was Portillo’s turn to start, and he made 25 saves on 28 shots (.893 sv%). Despite the subpar .900 sv% in the game, I thought Portillo played well. Tucson came out of the gate strong in the opening 20 minutes and answered the bell multiple times with key saves in the second and third periods. Portillo earned his second straight win, improving his record to 14-3-1-0 with a 2.47 GAA and a .905 sv% in 20 games this season.

NOTES:

*Wright’s two-goal performance gave him his 11th point (5 G, 6 A) in 11 games. His speed, especially on the penalty kill, played a huge factor again.

*Chromiak’s goal was his first in seven games. He tied his career-high in assists (22) and points (39) from last season with his multi-point game.

*Gawdin extended his point streak to four games (1 G, 3 A) with his assists.

*Connors extended his point streak to three games with his pair of assists (0 G, 4 A).

*Lee hit the 20-goal mark for the first time in his professional career and became the first Reign player to do so this year.

*Aatu Jamsen continues to stay red hot. His assist gave him 15 points (10 G, 5 A) in his last 22 games. A phenomenal turnaround for him since late December in his second AHL season.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign won’t be in action again until Sunday, March 1st, when they meet the Bakersfield Condors at Toyota Arena. That game starts at 3 PM PST, and you can watch on FloSports or on KCAL+ (channel 9.6). 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: Tucson Roadrunners

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