Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From 4-1 Win Against the Roadrunners

The Ontario Reign extended their win streak to a season-high five games with a 4-1 victory over the Roadrunners.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

ONT: PP Martin Chromiak (18), ASST: Andre Lee (17), Logan Brown (4)

TUC: SH Andrew Agozzino (10), ASST: None

Second period: 

None

Third period: 

ONT: PP Andre Lee (22), ASST: Logan Brown (5), Cole Guttman (20)

ONT: Jared Wright (16), ASST: Angus Booth (10), Francesco Pinelli (17)

ONT: EN Jared Wright (17), ASST: Jack Millar (6)

Stats

Goals:

TUC: 1

ONT: 4

Shots: 

TUC: 19

ONT: 27

Power plays: 

TUC: 0/3

ONT: 2/6

Here are the three takeaways from Wednesday night’s 4-1 victory:

Martin Chromiak continues to dazzle

Martin Chromiak continues to shine after carrying over his great play from the end of last season into this campaign. Chromiak, with his shot being the most useful tool in his arsenal, tallied his eighth power-play goal of the season in the opening period. The goal set a new career-high in points (40) and tied his professional career-high in goals (18).

The hands and speed are the noticeable traits the Slovakian native possesses, but it’s the overall game that has improved in the little details. The backchecking and compete on the defensive side of the puck, along with the offensive game, have put him in a position to possibly earn a call-up if the injury or illness bug continues to be a problem with the Kings.

There will be more on him in the upcoming days in a featured story on Hockey Royalty.

Wright back to business

Monday was a surreal day for Jared Wright. A day after his buddy Kenny Connors was called up to the Kings, Wright was called up and made his NHL debut along with Connors and Angus Booth.

Although Wright didn’t score, he logged almost 10 minutes of ice time and showed how his speed can be an x-factor. The 23-year-old was loaned back to the Reign yesterday morning and didn’t miss a beat after making his NHL debut.

Wright led the team in goals scored on the evening with a pair, along with a plus-2 rating, and tied with a game high of four shots on goal with two other teammates. My anticipation before the season started was that Wright’s speed, size, forecheck, defensive game, and penalty kill play would be a valuable asset in Ontario’s bottom-six forward group.

What I didn’t expect was his scoring touch to increase. I predicted 10-12 goals, which would’ve been solid for a late-round pick coming out of college, but he sits at 17 goals and has a chance to crack the 20-goal mark in Ontario.

In my opinion, I do not doubt that Wright’s game will be a seamless transition when making the jump to the NHL level.

Erik Portillo has a strong game

Erik Portillo didn’t see much action in the first 35 minutes like his counterpart, Matthew Villalta, but would be tested later on. Portillo had to be sharp in the dying minutes of the middle frame and needed to be on red alert in the opening two minutes of the final period.

Tucson carried over momentum from its final shift in the second period, leading to five straight shots on goal, which Portillo turned aside. His best saves came against Cameron Hebig with a left pad save while on his stomach and one with the right pad about a minute later, when he had to recover after the puck hit the end boards to come out in front of the net.

The 25-year-old stopped 18 of 19 shots (.947 sv%) for his 14th win of the season.

NOTES:

*Andre Lee played in his 200th AHL game and recorded a goal and an assist for his eighth multi-point game of the season.

*Chromiak’s 18th goal tied his AHL career-high from last season and set a new high with 40 points.

*Jack Millar recorded an assist, giving him four points in his last five games.

*Wright’s two goals put him in a three-way tie for most goals by a rookie skater in the AHL (17). His plus-minus rating of plus-27 leads all AHL rookie skaters, too.

*Koehn Ziemmer recorded his second fighting major of the season (the other one was on November 21st against Bakersfield).

*Logan Brown has recorded a power-play assist in back-to-back games.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign return to action on Friday, March 6th, at home against the Henderson Silver Knights. That game starts at 7 PM PST and can be seen on FloSports or KCAL+ (channel 9.6). You can also listen to the game on the Ontario Reign Radio Network or on the ESPN LA app. It’s the final game of a three-game homestand for the Reign before they hit the road for one game.

Featured image credit: Megan Sanders/Ontario Reign

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