Reign rally, fall in OT again

Reign game breakdown
The Reign clawed their way back to force overtime against the Rampage for a second straight day only to fall again in overtime, 2-1. Ontario defenseman Kevin Gravel scored from the point with 44 seconds left with goalie Ray Emery pulled to send the game to overtime. Goals came few and far between as the Rampage had scored 24 seconds into the game to open things. In the wild 3-on-3 overtime, Ben Street buried a pass from Andrew Agozzino on a 2 on 1 at 3:15 of the extra period.
A look at Street’s GWG:

Best quote

Nic Dowd: “It’s just how it goes with this overtime, nothing to hang our heads about. I think we did a lot of good things today and I think losing a doing a lot of good things is way better than losing and doing a lot of bad things.

Three stars
–Calvin Pickard – The Rampage goalie’s 21 saves (in the first period alone) kept the Reign off the board where it could have been easy to break after the workload he dealt with Friday night. Pickard stopped all but one of the 37 shots he faced.
–Kevin Gravel – The Reign D-man rifled a shot past Pickard (who seemed nearly unbeatable) with 44 seconds left in regulation to make this an entirely new game. Gravel’s goal, his second of the season, kept the Reign unbeaten in regulation this season.
–Ray Emery – Can’t fault the netminder in his Reign debut, particularly with his third-period efforts while his teammates pushed for the equalizer. After facing just 8 shots through the first two periods, Emery had to stop 11 in the third and really had no chance in Street’s game-winner.

Turning point
–With 1:39 left in regulation the Reign put an extra attacker on as Emery skated to the bench. The result was Gravel tying the game off a behind-the-back pass from Backman at the near board.

Stat fact
–4 – The Reign were scoreless on all four of their power plays, and looked lackluster at times, in a game where they desperately needed to get on the board.

Next up
Reign are bus-bound up I-5 as they face the San Jose Barracuda on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the SAP Center. Just last weekend the Barracuda were in Ontario, dropping a 3-0 contest.

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