Ontario Reign: Three Takeaways From Game One’s 3-1 Win

Goal Breakdown

First period:

None

Second period:

ONT: TJ Tynan (1), ASST: Wyatte Wylie (1)

Third period:

ONT: Alex Turcotte (1), ASST: Samuel Fagemo (2), TJ Tynan (2)

ABB: Max Sasson (1), ASST: None

ONT: Nikita Pavlychev (1), ASST: Kim Nousiainen (1)

Stats

Goals:

ABB: 1

ONT: 3

Shots:

ABB: 24

ONT: 21

Power plays:

ABB: 0/2

ONT: 0/4

Here are the three takeaways from the Reign’s 3-1 victory on Wednesday night:

No lineup changes

Marco Sturm made no lineup changes for this game. Instead of going with skill and speed against a fast team like Abbotsford, Sturm opted to keep the same heavy bottom-six players in the lineup from the Bakersfield Condors series. The move paid off on the scoresheet as Nikita Pavlychev got an insurance goal, re-gaining the Reign’s two-goal lead with 8:31 to play.

I thought the bottom six for the Reign played well, but the Canucks speed often gave them some problems which hemmed the Reign in the zone. Abbotsford is more of a finesse team than Bakersfield, and the Reign have a mix of finesse and physicality, more physicality. Listening to Marco Sturm’s postgame on the Ontario Reign YouTube channel, it sounds like he’ll keep the same lineup for game two.

Shutting it down

Locking it down in the third period has been nothing new for the Reign this season. When leading after two periods, their record is 29-0-3. That’s pretty good. Entering the third-period last night, the Reign didn’t sit back into their 1-3-1 and went for it. Playing against Abbotsford you can’t play on your heels, you have to play on your toes. They have a lot of good players who can turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 or 3-1 lead in minutes with all that skill.

Even after Max Sasson’s goal, which came 3:20 after Alex Turcotte’s goal that gave the Reign a 2-0 lead, cut the Reign in half, there was no sense of panic when watching the team. Less than four minutes later, the Reign re-gained their two-goal lead after an offensive zone faceoff win by Pavlychev that led to him scoring the goal off a rebound after he inadvertently blocked Kim Nousiainen’s shot.

Having a confident team, that has the perfect roster balance of youth and experience, that knows they can win and are comfortable holding onto a lead in the third period is always a good sign.

Alex Turcotte makes an impact

Alex Turcotte is always going to compete every shift no matter the score. He was Ontario’s best forward last night and that compete motor never turned off. Turcotte was all over the ice backchecking, causing turnovers in the neutral zone, in on the forecheck, you name it. All of those things you won’t see show up in the box score, though. After all of his hard work and effort, Turcotte got rewarded with his first goal of the playoffs. After Samuel Fagemo’s slot shot hit the post, Turcotte was in the right place at the right time and put home the rebound that wound up being on his stick. While he has played center for the majority of the year, he is still making an impact as a winger, but on the first line now.

NOTES:

*Nikita Pavlychev recorded his first career Calder Cup Playoff goal.

*Alex Turcotte’s goal early in the third period ended up as the game-winning goal.

*Rookie goalie Erik Portillo made 23 saves on 24 shots for his third win in the playoffs.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign and Abbotsford Canucks are back at it for game two of the series on Sunday at 3 PM. That game can be seen on AHLTV and KCAL9 for Southern California residents.

Video courtesy of the Ontario reign YouTube channel