Ontario Reign 3, San Jose Barracuda 2 (OT)
Final
SOG: ONT – 16; SJ – 30
PP: ONT – 2/4; SJ – 0/5
First Period
1) SJ – Jeremy Langlois (Jeremy Morin), 12:25
Second Period
2) ONT PPG – Sean Backman (18) (Kevin Gravel, Nic Dowd), 12:54
Third Period
3) ONT PPG – Adrian Kempe (10) (Kevin Gravel, Sean Backman), 10:21
4) SJ – Byran Lerg (17) (Dylan DeMelo, Karl Stollery), 19:27
Overtime
5) ONT – Vincent LoVerde (11) (Michael Mersch), :23
Ontario Reign (35-14-4-1, .694 win %) vs. San Jose Barracuda (26-21-6-3, .545)
Wednesday, March 16, 2016, 7:30 p.m. PT
SAP Center, San Jose, CA
Referees: #19 Tim Mayer, #34 Stephen Reneau
Linesmen: #21 Alexander Ledovskiy, #83 Andrew Norris
AHL Live, Mixlr Radio
ONT starters: G Peter Budaj, D Derek Forbort, D Kevin Gravel, LW Andrew Crescenzi, C Brett Sutter, RW Jonny Brodzinski
ONT scratches: D Zach Leslie, F Paul Bissonnette, D Nick Ebert, F Joel Lowry
SJ starters: G Joel Rumpel, D Gus Young, D Joakim Ryan, LW Jeremy Morin, C Nikolay Goldobin, RW Jeremy Langlois
SJ scratches: G Troy Grosenick, F Raffi Torres, F Frazer McLaren, D Rick Pinkston, D Patrick McNally, F Barclay Goodrow
Notes and video
–The Reign improved to 9-2-0-0 against SJ this season.
–Peter Budaj made 28 saves to pick up his league-leading 34th victory.
–Vincent LoVerde’s goal was his fourth game-winner of the season and second in overtime.
LoVerde took Michael Mersch’s shot off the back boards and tipped in by Rumpel. Watch it here, thanks to Sheng Peng:
23 secs into OT, Mersch shoots it off boards, long bounce, LoVerde! @ontarioreign steals it from @sjbarracuda 3-2 pic.twitter.com/k4CBmpxDTf
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 17, 2016
–Sean Backman’s second period goal was originally credited to Mersch, but correctly changed after the game. With that, Backman reaches 50 points.
Kempe to Dowd to Gravel to Backman to Mersch (for now) on the PP! @ontarioreign 1 @sjbarracuda 1 pic.twitter.com/pjEYel6ped
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 17, 2016
–Kevin Gravel recorded his fourth multi-point game of the season by assisting on both goals in regulation.
–The Reign had just 2 shots on goal in the first period, tying a season low in the opening period. They also had 2 SOG in the first period against Texas on Jan. 17, a 2-1 Ontario win.
–With SJ’s goalie pulled, the Reign gave up a goal to Bryan Lerg with just 32.4 seconds left in regulation:
Well-earned point for @sjbarracuda as Lerg sends it to OT w/ 30 secs left @ontarioreign pic.twitter.com/ZxZvQg9eHs
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 17, 2016
–Brett Sutter played in his 600th career AHL game.
–The Reign held San Jose at 0-for-9 on the power play in the two-game series.
–The Reign were held scoreless on the power play in the last three games before Backman’s second period goal on the man advantage.
–San Jose’s starting goalie Joel Rumpel was playing in just his second AHL game. He’s a college teammate of Mersch at the University of Wisconsin.
–Adrian Kempe’s goal was his second in the last three games after going scoreless in his previous 17. Kempe recently missed four games due to an upper-body injury but returned last Saturday against San Diego.
Video of said goal:
Kempe blasts the AK on the PP @ontarioreign 2 @sjbarracuda 1 pic.twitter.com/eW7WozKDxR
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 17, 2016
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