February 9: Reign game breakdown

Reign game breakdown
Behind one of their strongest first periods of the season, the Reign got out to an early two-goal lead and held on the rest of the way to defeat the visiting Bakersfield Condors 2-1 on Wednesday night. The victory was much needed for Ontario after a lackluster weekend out of the All-Star break where they dropped consecutive games to San Diego. Mike Amadio scored 37 seconds into the game on a deflection of a Zac Leslie shot. From there, the fourth liners produced as Daniel Ciampini redirected a puck on net and the rebound laid out in the slot for Patrick Bjorkstrand to finish. After a scoreless middle frame, Bakersfield pulled within with a goal two minutes into the third on a mark by a top prospect Jesse Puljujarvi. Behind Jack Campbell’s 26-save performance, the Reign picked up the win.

Best quote
Stothers, on the fourth line’s play and the AHL debut of Quentin Shore, brother of Kings forward Nick Shore who won a Calder Cup with the Monarchs before the team moved to Ontario: “I liked that lineup until Shoresy’s drop pass [to no one] in the third. I told him about it. I told him I was going to text his brother too and let him know how I felt about that drop pass.”

Three stars
–Mike Amadio – Amadio’s clean faceoff win resulted in his opening goal as he won the draw back to Leslie whose shot he redirected for his ninth goal of the season. The rookie center also started the play for the second goal as his shot was moved along by Ciampini toward Condors goalie Jonas Gustavsson. Assuming top-line centering duties, Amadio has been strong as of late with four points (2-2=4) in his last three games. “Once we let it slip there, those two games, we knew we had to win the next one and we came out tonight hard and did what we wanted to do,” he said.
–Patrick Bjorkstrand – The odd man out much of the season mainly due to hierarchy is now getting a chance to be a regular as a result of the injuries up front. Bjorkstrand, playing in just his 19th game this season, netted his fifth goal which ended up being the game-winner. He played alongside Shore and Ciampini, the fourth line that brought energy throughout and provided an opportunity for Stothers to roll all four lines without hesitation. “Secondary scoring is really important especially if you want to be a top team and a winning team, so we understand that,” Bjorkstrand said. “I think we got off to a really good start, our line, and we just tried to build off that and luckily we got that goal, so that was great. We’ve got to build off that and get better and better as a line.”
–Jack Campbell – Campbell didn’t have to steal the game, but he had to be good in stretches when Bakersfield was making a push to get back in the game, particularly in the second period. “Soupy was there when we needed him,” Stothers said. In that middle frame, he came across to make a shorthanded stop on Josh Currie in the third period that drew the attention of the crowd, which chanted his name afterwards. In the first period, he gobbled up a shot by Condors’ leading scorer Ryan Hamilton on a mini-break. For the sixth time this season he allowed one goal or less and again got his team on the right track. Campbell has not lost three games in a row all season.

Turning point
The Reign looked on their way to their second game of the season without being called for a minor penalty, but when Tom Gilbert was whistled for interference with 4:55 left in regulation it was a prime opportunity for the Condors to tie it. In their one and only PK of the game the Reign disabled the Condors’ offense and were led by the pestering play of Sam Herr and Brett Sutter.

Stat fact
–2 – Key faceoff wins in the defensive zone by center Andrew Crescenzi against Anton Lander, which helped the Reign get clears and seal the win when Bakersfield had pulled Gustavsson. “We count on big Cres for faceoffs and he was a horse out there for us, especially when we needed him … when push comes to shove, you need a faceoff, you need a guy to bear down and get a win for ya, he’s a pretty good go-to guy to have,” Stothers said.

Lineups and injuries
Regarding the injury to Michael Mersch (knee), it sounds like he’ll miss another 5-6 weeks, this according to a source in the Kings hockey operations department.

This and that off-ice
A fan was hit in the head by an errant puck of the stick of Adrian Kempe late in the second period and left the stands after being attended to by arena staff.

Next up
The Reign host San Diego on Friday night at 7 p.m. in a crucial Pacific Division matchup.