November 12: Bus Texts with Stothers

In tonight’s Bus Texts with Stothers we get some thoughts on shootout picks as the Reign head from Iowa to Rockford for tomorrow’s game.

Reign 6, Iowa 5 (SO)
Ontario scored three straight goals in a third period comeback and battled for a shootout win despite allowing Iowa to tie the score with just 19 seconds left in regulation. The victory broke a three-game losing streak. Trailing 4-2 going into the final 20 minutes, the Reign used goals by Andrew Crescenzi, Paul LaDue and Mike Amadio to take a 5-4 lead. Iowa tied the game with their goalie pulled on a rebound goal by Jeff Hoggan. After a scoreless overtime, the shootout hero was veteran Sean Backman, who scored the winner on a deke to his backhand past Steve Michalek. Goalie Anders Lindback stopped four of five shooters and came up with the final stop to win his first game as a member of the Reign. Ontario fell behind after 40 minutes by giving up a three-goal second period to Iowa, including a shorthander. Adrian Kempe and Justin Auger scored for the Reign in the first and second respectively and veteran Rob Scuderi made his Reign debut after being a healthy scratch the first nine games.

BUS TEXTS WITH STOTHERS
ORI: Just how badly did you guys need that one tonight, especially with the impressive effort in the third to come back?
Stothers: Great effort by the guys to stick with it, and battle from behind. We could have been discouraged by them tying it up with the goalie out, but we just kept marching forward. It may have been a step in growth for this group.
ORI: I know how much you despise shootouts. How do you decide on shooters and what’s it like to watch?
Stothers: Sometimes it’s just gut instinct, other times you ask a guy on the bench if he has one in him. Sometimes guys look at you and you can tell the look is “I want to be the guy”!! And of course you take into consideration statistics and how they may fare is past attempts. You can analyze it all you want, it still comes down to a crap shoot and is a horrible way to settle a game.
ORI: Did Backman have the look?
Stothers: That was a matter of going with a veteran guy who had a tough night, and hoping he could make the one play needed to secure the victory. He is a leader and leaders step up when needed.
ORI: What’d you see from Scuderi tonight in his first game back?
Stothers: Scuds did pretty well in his first game of the season. He had not played since exhibition. He relied on his experience and instincts. Not an easy situation to come into but he handled it like the pro that he is.