Coachella Valley’s Dynamic Trio Propel the Firebirds to a 6-2 Win Over The Onatrio Reign

Coachella Valley’s Jani Nyman, Jagger Firkus, and Tyson Jugnauth led the way offensively to spoil the Ontario Reign’s home opener with a 6-2 victory.

Scoring

First period: 

CV: PP Jani Nyman (3), ASST: Jagger Firkus (3), Tyson Jugnauth (2)

ONT: Koehn Ziemmer (1), ASST: Kirill Kirsanov (2), Lane Pederson (3)

CV: PP Jani Nyman (4), ASST: John Hayden (2), Tyson Jugnauth (3)

ONT: Jared Wright (2), ASST: Vojtěch Čihař (1), Jack Hughes (1)

Second period: 

CV: Jagger Firkus (1), ASST: Tyson Jugnauth (4), J.R. Avon (1)

CV: PP Jagger Firkus (2), ASST: Tyson Jugnauth (5)

Third period:

CV: EN Oscar Fisker-Molgaard (1), ASST: Jagger Firkus (3)

CV: EN Jani Nyman (5), ASST: Ty Nelson (2)

Stats

Goals:

CV: 6

ONT: 2

Shots: 

CV: 31

ONT: 30

Power plays:

CV: 3/4

ONT: 0/4

The Reign and Firebirds finished the second night of a home-and-home series before meeting again in exactly one week. Ontario beat their I-10 rivals on Friday night, overcoming multiple two-goal performances in a 6-5 overtime win. Coachella Valley returned the favor last night with a 6-2 pouncing. Let’s unpack some takeaways from the Reign’s home opener loss last night.

Takeaways:

Dreadful special teams

The Reign’s special teams weren’t good on Friday, despite the win, and they were abysmal yesterday. The power play looked out of sync from in-zone entries to in-zone setup. The two units didn’t pose a threat to Coachella Valley on any of their four attempts, making it easy for the visitors to keep Ontario from getting time and space.

As the power play went 0-for-4, the penalty kill allowed three goals on three of four chances. Coachella’s power play is lethal: all five options are a scoring threat, and they move the puck around with plenty of player movement to create open looks. This weekend, Ontario gave Coachella Valley too much time and space to make plays, and they got burned.

Head coach Andrew Lord said after the game that his squad needs to be “sharper,” and with the Reign off this weekend, I expect them to work on attention to detail and structure to tighten up these lapses. Allowing five power-play goals on eight tries isn’t a recipe for success.

Coachella’s trio fueled the offense

Coachella’s offense was led by Jani Nyman’s hat trick, Jagger Firkus’ two goals and two assists, and Tyson Jugnauth’s four assists in the win; they scorched the Reign. Nyman led the way and has always had a knack for scoring against the Reign, with 13 goals in 27 career games (regular season and postseason). The 22-year-old recorded the hat trick last night, and three of his five goals this weekend came on the power play. Sooner or later he should be a full-time player for the Seattle Kraken.

Firkus and Jugnauth weren’t bad themselves. They only chipped in with four points each; no big deal, right? Big deal. Firkus added two goals and tallied six points over the weekend. Jugnauth added four helpers and five total during the weekend. Add up all three’s point totals from the game, and you get 11 points. If Coachella gets contributions like that from all three in the same game, they will win nine times out of ten.

Hampton Slukynsky and balancing the three goalies’ workloads

It was Hammer time for the first time this season, but the result wasn’t one the Reign wanted. In his first start in his first full season as a pro, Hampton Slukynsky allowed four goals on 29 shots. Slukynsky had bright moments, especially in his puck tracking and movement, but this game will also serve as an eye-opener for the 21-year-old rookie. Slukynsky has had no issues winning at every level, but the pros are a different game. One game will not ruin his prospect stock, but there will be some expected growing pains, same with Carter George. But as I said, he had some good moments in his start last night that he can build on.

George backed up Slukynsky last night, meaning Erik Portillo got the night off after starting Friday’s game. I asked coach Lord after the game what some of the challenges are with balancing the playing time for all three. He said, “It’s another good problem to have. We have three elite goalies. I think it’s difficult this time of the year; the first couple of weeks of the season are just slow…it won’t be much of an issue with more games. When we get those midweek, three or four games a week, it’ll be a better situation for the three (when it comes to balancing their workloads).”

Jared Wright scores again

Jared Wright is already off to a fast start offensively. After scoring the game-winner in overtime on Friday night, the second-year pro wasted no time adding another goal to his total. With the Reign trailing 2-1 in the opening stanza, Ontario created two good scoring chances, causing a scramble in front of the net as Wright cashed in on the third chance into an open net with Victor Ostman out of position.

Wright’s stock grew last season and is already off to a solid start. If he improves his finishing, he can be a good bottom-six option with his size, speed, forechecking, and penalty-kill prowess.

NOTES:

*Koehn Ziemmer scored the Reign’s first home goal of the season. Last season he was a healthy scratch to start the season, but this go-around he has been in the lineup for the first two games.

*Vojtěch Čihař recorded his first North American Pro point with the primary assist on Wright’s goal, finding him at the side of the net on a rebound scramble. When asked about Čihař by Mayor’s Manor John Hoven in media availability, coach Lord was highly complimentary of the 19-year-old rookie. He added that he has given the team valuable minutes, checked well, and played a 200-foot game through the first two contests.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign have a week off before hitting the ice again for the third straight meeting against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The game is on Sunday, October 11th, at 3 PM PST at Acrisure Arena. You can watch the game on FloSports and listen to it on the Ontario Reign Radio Network.

Featured image credit: Megan Sanders/Ontario Reign

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