REIGN FINAL – Reign 5, Silver Knights 2 – Hajt, Sutter, Pavlychev

For the second straight night, the Ontario Reign (18-6-3-1) got goals from five different skaters to defeat the Henderson Silver Knights (16-10-2-1) by a final score of 5-2. Forward Tyler Madden scored for the third straight game and was the lone player that had a multi-point night with a goal and an assist, while forward Nikita Pavlychev netted his first career AHL goal and had a team-high five shots on goal.

It was also the second straight win for goaltender Matthew Villalta, who stopped 29 shots in the win for Ontario. The Reign also put up a season-high 42 shots in the victory, with Quinton Byfield, Austin Wagner and Jordan Spence each also finding the back of the net.

BOX SCORE

More from Reign Assistant Coach Chris Hajt, captain Brett Sutter and forward Nikita Pavlychev below.

In another similarity to Friday night’s game, Ontario took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The Silver Knights scored on a shot by Maxim Marushev when the game was just 18 seconds old to take an early lead, but the Reign responded by totaling 17 shots in the opening frame.

First, TJ Tynan found Byfield wide open in front of the net on the power play to even the game up at 1-1 before Wagner gave Ontario the lead on a pass by Adam Johnson.

The Reign added on in the second, first making it 3-1 on Pavlychev’s strike, a snapshot off a pass by Keegan Iverson, who was signed to a PTO earlier Saturday and playing in his first game for Ontario since 2017-18. A second assist on the play went to Christian Kasastul, who got on the scoresheet for the second straight night.

Then later in the frame at 17:31, Brett Sutter fed Madden in front on a rush, who wristed home his 11th goal of the season to make it 4-1.

A power play goal for Henderson’s Pavel Dorofeyev cut the lead down to 4-2 at 2:27 of the third, but the Silver Knights were never able to get any closer. Spence made it a three-goal lead again with a shot from the point on a power play, which took a deflection on its way into the cage. The final goal of the night was assisted by Madden and Gabriel Vilardi, who extended his point streak to five games.

The final shots tally was 42-31 in favor of Ontario. Henderson goaltender Logan Thompson started the game but was pulled from the game after the second period after allowing four goals on 30 shots. He was replaced by Dylan Ferguson who stopped 11 shots in relief. The Reign scored twice on the power play and finished 2-for-4 on the man-advantage in the game, while the Silver Knights ended at 1-for-2.

Chris Hajt
On how his team played in the game
They started off quick, scoring first shift of the game and we were kind of on our heels a little bit until probably the first five or six minutes and then all of a sudden we started playing our game again, got back to what made us successful last night with our tenacity our hunt mentality on the forecheck, our details, taking care of the puck and working in behind. After that time we thought we played better and played our game, stuck with it and were rewarded with two points.

On if it was a statement to beat Henderson 5-2 on two straight nights
We just wanted to play our game. I think we were really focused on the process overall, not necessarily the result and it kind of took care of itself. Just making sure that we play to our identity and we thought as a group that we did that for the last two games and that’s an important step.

On if hitting the 40-shot mark made the team successful
Having a shot mentality helps for sure. You create second, third and fourth opportunities off the same play just by having more of a shot mentality. The forward group is talented, they like to hold on to pucks and make plays and sometimes it’s just as good as getting that from the side and going to the net for the rebound. Happy that we had that many shots tonight and we’ll move forward.

On why the team’s power play has been so successful
Just the power play in general, they enjoy it, they enjoy being together out there. That opportunity to play an offensive role, having talented players that enjoy doing it but they’re also working. As a penalty kill, they’re going to try and out work you because they have less players but our power play works really hard and puck retrievals are a big part of it, they’ve been great at that, and that’s given them second, third and fourth opportunities on the same power play during this stretch.

Brett Sutter
On the whole team playing together in the win
Yeah absolutely. I think we stuck together, I think we came out a little slow tonight after a tough night of travel but stuck with it, stuck to the game plan, when our team’s hunting and playing fast we’re a difficult team to play against and I think we showed that throughout the game.

On if anything changed to get the team playing better after the slow start
I think just our approach. I think once we started playing north, playing connected and playing fast, we’ve got a lot of guys that can skate when we’re playing that way, it makes for a long night for the defensemen and it can wear out other teams and we started doing that throughout the night.

On how the forward group played on the weekend
Well first of all I think guys like Kasastul and Pavlychev stepped up big time. Great to see them both get their first goals, so kudos to them. I thought they both played unbelievable and just everyone stepped up, everyone took on a bigger role, and our team’s capable of that. We’ve got seven good defense and 15 good forwards on almost any given night so good teams do that, they can step up with a next-man-up mentality and we showed that this weekend.

Nikita Pavlychev

With points in four straight games, the Reign return home to Toyota Arena to host the Abbotsford Canucks for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee on Monday afternoon at 3 p.m.