Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From 4-1 Loss to Iowa

The Ontario Reign saw their 11-game point streak end with a 4-1 road loss to the Iowa Wild on Friday night.

Goal Breakdown

First period:

None

Second period: 

IA: Nicolas Aube-Kubel (13), ASST: Jean-Luc Foudy (16), Will Zmolek (4)

IA: PP Dylan Gambrell (7), ASST: Gerry Mayhew (13)

IA: Matt Kierstad (2), ASST: Gerry Mayhew (14), Tyler Pitlick (5)

Third period: 

ONT: Francesco Pinelli (11), ASST: Kirill Kirsanov (9), Angus Booth (14)

IA: EN Tyler Pitlick (10), ASST: David Spacek (20), Dylan Gambrell (20)

Stats

Goals: 

ONT: 1

IA: 4

Shots: 

ONT: 21

IA: 26

Power plays: 

ONT: 0/3

IA: 1/5

Here are the three takeaways from Friday night’s 4-1 defeat:

Awful second period

The opening 20 minutes didn’t see much action; that changed in the middle frame. Iowa took it to Ontario, outshooting them 14-8 and scoring three unanswered goals in a 6:28 span as the wheels fell off for the visitors. The Wild looked a step faster, and the Reign looked a step slow for pretty much most of the night. The second-period bugaboos that were a thorn in the Reign’s side earlier in the season have come back to bite them in their last five games, getting outscored 9-2 during that stretch.

Slumping power play

The power play has been a huge success since the Reign decided to run an all-five-forward unit after the Christmas break. In January and February, Ontario’s power play was converting at a 26.8% clip (19-for-71).

March has been a different story. The power play went 0-for-3 last night, making it a dreadful 3-for-26 (11.5%) during the month, and hasn’t converted a power play opportunity in its last seven games. That’s usually the ebbs and flows of a season, but with the season winding down and playoffs around the corner, it’s not panic time yet, but a slight cause for concern.

An old friend gets revenge

Cal Petersen stopped 20 of 21 shots for Iowa, earning his 11th win of the season. Reign fans are familiar with Petersen, as the 31-year-old spent his first three professional seasons in the AHL with the Reign before getting called up to the Kings in 2020.

The netminder found himself back in Ontario in December 2022 after poor play and not living up to expectations after signing a three-year extension in Los Angeles. The Kings eventually traded Petersen to the Philadelphia Flyers in June 2023 to create salary cap room. Last night was the first time he faced Ontario as an opponent. Despite not having a busy night, Petersen made a couple of big saves, particularly on Kenny Connors’ breakaway bid with under seven minutes remaining in the middle frame.

Although the roster has been completely turned over since Cal’s last game with the Reign (only Jacob Doty remains from the 2022-23 Reign team), there is always that extra motivation for a player when facing off against their old squad. Petersen was named the game’s third star for his performance.

NOTES:

*Jan Jenik made his Ontario Reign debut. He was acquired in a trade with the Ottawa Senators for Samuel Bolduc last week.

*Angus Booth recorded his 14th assist of the season.

*Erik Portillo made 22 saves on 25 shots in the loss.

*Doty recorded his team-leading seventh fight of the season.

UP NEXT: These two teams meet again this evening (late afternoon if you’re watching in California) at 3 PM PST. You can watch the game on FloSports or listen to it on the Ontario Reign Radio Network or on the ESPN LA app.

Featured image credit: Tim Garland/Iowa Wild

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