April 6: Reign 4, Heat 1 + postgame notes/video

Ontario Reign 4, Stockton Heat 1
Final

Radio Feed
Box Score

SOG: ONT – 34; STK – 47
PP: ONT – 2/3; STK – 1/3

First Period
No scoring

Second Period
1) ONT PPG – Michael Mersch (23) (Jeff Schultz, Sean Backman), 3:05
2) ONT PPG – Nick Ebert (2) (Kris Newbury, Adrian Kempe), 5:16
3) STK PPG – Bill Arnold (9) (Brett Kulak, Kenny Agostino), 12:54
4) ONT – Derek Forbort (2) (Adrian Kempe, Brett Sutter), 16:02
5) ONT – Sam Herr (1) (Matt Leitner, Joel Lowry), 16:40

Third Period
No scoring

Ontario Reign (40-18-4-1, .675 win %) vs. Stockton Heat (30-28-2-2, .516)
Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 7 p.m. PT
Stockton Arena, Stockton, CA
Referees: #46 Dave Lewis, #17 Peter Tamaris
Linesmen: #21 Alexander Ledovskiy, #83 Andrew Norris
AHL Live, Mixlr Radio

ONT starters: G Peter Budaj, D Derek Forbort, D Zach Leslie, LW Adrian Kempe, C Andrew Crescenzi, RW Sean Backman
ONT scratches: D Vincent LoVerde, F Paul Bissonnette, F Ryan Horvat, F Matt Schmalz, D Damir Sharipzyanov, D Jacob Middleton

STK starters: G Nick Schneider, D Brett Kulak, D Tyler Wotherspoon, LW Morgan Klimchuk, C Bill Arnold, RW Bryce Van Brabant
STK scratches: G Kent Simpson, G Jon Gillies, G Kevin Poulin, D Dustin Stevenson, D Keegan Kanzig, F Mason Raymond, F Drew Shore, F Colton Orr, F Hunter Smith, D Aaron Johnson

Also …

–The Reign clinched the Pacific Division title with the victory.

–The game marked the 12th and final meeting of the regular season between the Heat and Reign. The Reign won the season series with a mark of 7-4-1-0.

–Goalie Peter Budaj tied a season-high with his 19th straight start and made his league-leading 39th victory by making 46 saves.

–The Reign saw two special teams streaks end: Their perfect PK run ended at 51 straight on Bill Arnold’s second period goal, but they broke an 0-for-15 power play streak on Michael Mersch’s 23rd of the year.

–Adrian Kempe registered his fifth multi-point game of the season by notching two assists.

–Kris Newbury has two goals and one assist in his last four games, this after going goalless in 20 straight contests before breaking that streak on March 30 against San Jose.

–Mersch’s power play deflection gets the Reign on the board in the second period after a scoreless first (videos courtesy of Sheng Peng):

Mersch deflects it on the PP, ONT's 1st PP goal in 15 tries @ontarioreign 1 @AHLHeat 0 pic.twitter.com/Lyc8BJHi8a

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 7, 2016

–Nick Ebert’s second goal of the season from the point and on the power play puts the Reign up 2-0:

Okay, looks like it's Ebert goal on the PP…back-to-back PP goals for ONT 2:11 apart @ontarioreign 2 @AHLHeat 0 pic.twitter.com/gyV62N2usB

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 7, 2016

–Bill Arnold tips a Brett Kulak shot on the power play, ending the Reign’s perfect PK streak at 51 straight kills and makes it a 2-1 game:

Arnold tips Kulak shot, 3rd straight PP goal to open gm @ontarioreign 2 @AHLHeat 1 pic.twitter.com/zDFMcAMt0M

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 7, 2016

–Derek Forbort stretches the lead back to two on a PPG from the point in the second period, his second goal of the season:

Strong ONT forecheck kicked off by Auger leads to seeing-eye Forbort shot, @ontarioreign 3 @AHLHeat 1 pic.twitter.com/x2XUxavA9T

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 7, 2016

–Ontario goes up 4-1 on Sam Herr’s first pro goal. Herr just recently signed an ATO after completing his college career at Notre Dame and here he’s set up by Matt Leitner as the fourth-liners contribute. The goal comes just 38 seconds after Forbort’s:

.@NDHockey's Sam Herr makes no mistake on 1st pro goal, unselfish feed from Matt Leitner @ontarioreign 4 @AHLHeat 1 pic.twitter.com/SMsSrI1Zde

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 7, 2016