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Ontario Reign Edge Out Gulls 2-1 in Overtime For a 2-0 Series Lead |
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From the onset of the series, it felt like one that could have many potential overtime duels.
Saturday night at Valley View Casino Center we got a taste of the first Reign/Gulls OT battle. Bad blood has really been at a minimum this series, but the tight checking and aggressive play has been prominent nevertheless.
Unlike Game 1 of the series, San Diego ripped out the gate and played perhaps their best period of hockey in the series. Both teams ramped up the pace, playing a 1st period with some excellent displays of skating, puck movement, and goaltending. The 1-0 score line, courtesy of Nick Ritchie, did little justice to what was an entertaining 20 minutes.
The second period was more of what has become commonplace in the Ontario/San Diego matchup. It was a period dominated by sloggish, penalty ridden hockey as each team combined for three interference calls, a charge, a cross check, and a too many men on the ice call. Around 12 minutes of the second period was played on special teams, and neither team showed any real prowess with the extra man.
The game could have spiraled into nasty territory when Chris Wagner's hard charge on Sam Herr sent the former Notre Dame forward crashing to the ice in pain, but cooler heads prevailed. Herr was helped off on the knee on knee collision, but thankfully returned later on to an already depleted Ontario lineup.
On the other side, San Diego felt their own share of injury scares as center Chris Mueller took a slapshot up high in the face during the early second period. Mueller stayed down and trainers were immediately summoned as blood pooled onto the ice. Mueller also would later return to play the third. With the team already missing Kerdiles and Sgarbossa as part of their center group, it was a moment of potential devastation for coach Dallas Eakins.
One player who stepped up immensely in the wake of injury was that of goaltender Matt Hackett. Playing in the place of injured Anton Khudobin, the former Buffalo Sabres goaltender had a rough Game 1 of the series. Nevertheless, his Game 2 put all that to the grave as Hackett turned away 42 of 44, including several outstanding glove stops. Glove stops that prompted Coach Mike Stothers to quip that perhaps Hackett "was a gold glove center fielder"
In the end though it was all for not, as the Reign's Kris Newbury finally got one past him early in the third period. From there the game became a shutdown battle for Ontario as they slowly ground away at the San Diego forecheck and neutral zone transition game. With the Reign loading up the red and blue line with four players, it became nearly impossible for San Diego to traverse the middle third of the ice with any semblance of speed. After the third period, San Diego had 14 of their 24 shots come from defensemen, leaving just 10 from their forward group. It was a testament more to the frustrating and aggressive neutral zone spread the Reign used than to an unwillingness or lack of quality from San Diego.
As the free hockey period went on, the Reign started growing in confidence, but there was still a feeling that it could be an "opportunity lost" scenario with one play from the Gulls. At the 8:05 mark of the OT, a offensive zone faceoff win got the puck back to Kevin Gravel who fired one on a screened Hackett (Mersch screening). The rebound was cleaned up by Justin Auger who chipped it home to send the Reign back home with a 2-0 series lead and a potential stranglehold game awaiting on Mother's Day.
Turning Points
The Newbury goal early in the third period was finally the crack that the Reign needed to feel like they could get one by an outstanding Matt Hackett. All night the Gulls netminder confounded and bested the Reign shooters with dazzling glove saves and desperation net front scrambles. However, through it all Ontario's bench never got frustrated, and as Mike Stothers said in post game "Unloaded the whole magazine on him." After roughly 30+ shots, Newbury caught a tip from a LoVerde point shot and beat the nemesis that was Hackett.
Amadio, who dug the puck out in the corner to LoVerde, logged his second career pro point on the play.
Another key turning point was perhaps the hit on Sam Herr. The series, which has had moments of incredibly nastiness to it during the regular season, has remained ultimately subdued. There were SOME post whistle scrims, but nothing you would categorize as out of the ordinary. With the officials whistling Wagner for a two minute charge, tempers seemed to remain in check and on the safe side of things. Maybe for the better.
Key Stats
14 of 27
As stated before, 14 of San Diego's total 27 shots came from the defense group. Inherently that means the Gulls were taking shots from low scoring areas. There also did not seem to be a ton of traffic in front of Budaj, who turned away 26 of 27. The center lane was as clogged as the yeti's bathtub, and there did not seem to be much of a threat coming from a key area of the ice. As far as territorial battles go, the Reign dominated their third of the ice, and later the neutral zone.
23:57
Was the unofficial time clock (Kept by yours truly) on Nic Dowd's ice time for the evening. He is and has been Stothers' go to guy on match ups of the Gulls top 6, and he played Kopitar-like minutes tonight. While there was no log on him for the overtime period, he took four shifts in the OT period and likely had around 28 minutes on the evening. There is no question this was the highest of any Reign forward on the night.
8
Eight was the number of times Mike Stothers directly made a switch on the evening to get Kevin Gravel and Derek Forbort out against the San Diego top line with Nick Ritchie and Ondrej Kase. This is not dissimilar to Game 1, however Eakins used last change to try and exploit the Reign bottom pair and bottom line, but was often foiled by the Reign ceasing possession and getting the change they want. Matching means very little if you cannot exploit it, and San Diego was not able to do so for the majority of the night. Not related to Forbort or Gravel, but Jordan Samuels-Thomas and Andrew Crescenzi were another line duo that Stothers was utilizing on top of the Gulls top line. Kase and Ritchie combined for two shots, while the Crescenzi line matched them with three.
Key Players
Matt Hackett
Hard to not credit the big man with his 42 save performance. He single handedly staved off an onslaught for 45 minutes before the cracks leaked through. He got saddled with the L, but it was a bad luck decision
Justin Auger
Mike Stothers has talked about how Auger is a guy who could be big, and could be looking to take on more of a leadership role this year and in these moments. Tonight he came through with another big goal for Ontario. While it was a bit of good fortune that the rebound found his stick in the slot, Auger has made a habit of putting himself in those areas all season. It helped again tonight as he tucked home the game winner.
Moving Forward
In this unorthodox 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 series, The Reign have an outstanding opportunity on Sunday night to take a complete stranglehold on the series. A 3-0 deficit in the AHL is the same as it is in the NHL. It is extremely difficult and nearly unheard of for a team to come back from that. The series shifts up to CBBA for Game 3 at 7pm tomorrow, less than 24 hours after the sting of an overtime defeat for the Gulls.
It will be a challenge for the San Diego lineup to recoup, reset, and move on to what could be the biggest game of their season. A cool and collected Reign group will await them, as will an eager Ontario crowd.
Game 2 is in the books, and it was a low scoring battle. 2-1 to the visitors, who now hold a strong 2-0 series lead and are looking to kick a little more dirt on the coffin tomorrow night.
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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