REIGN FINAL – Reign 4, Roadrunners 3 (OT) – Hajt, Andersson

After being sent to the AHL on a conditioning loan earlier in the day, forward Lias Andersson scored twice in the final two minutes to force overtime where Martin Frk netted the game-winning goal to send the Ontario Reign (30-10-3-3) past the Tucson Roadrunners (17-24-3-1) by a final score of 4-3 Wednesday night at Toyota Arena.

Forward TJ Tynan picked up the first assist on the final two goals of the game and increased his league-leading total to 54 helpers, while forward Jacob Doty scored his first goal of the season in the victory for Ontario. Goaltender Matt Villalta stopped 26 shots to earn his 19th win of the 2021-22 campaign in the team’s 30th overall victory on the season.

BOX SCORE

More from Reign Assistant Coach Chris Hajt and Andersson below –

Tucson got off to a quick start, scoring just 22 seconds into the first period when Michael Carcone found the back of the net on a rebound in front to make it 1-0.

Terry Broadhurst added on at 5:49 for the Roadrunners and then Hudson Fasching made it 3-0 for the visitors on the power play at 15:17.

But Ontario cut their deficit back to two goals before the end of the first when Doty redirected a pass from forward Austin Wagner past goaltender Ivan Prosvetov with 38 seconds remaining in the period. The play was started by defender Christian Kasastul, who kept the puck in at the blue line before sending it to Wagner and recorded the second assist.

Tucson held on to their 3-1 lead throughout the second period and all the way into the final minutes of the third, keeping the potent Ontario attack away from their net. But things changed when the Reign pulled Villalta in exchange for an extra attacker with under four minutes to play in regulation.

First, Andersson scored his first tally off a pass by forward Samuel Fagemo at 18:04 of the third to make it a 3-2 game. The former No. 7 overall draft selection fired a shot to the top right corner of the net to put the Reign within striking distance. Forward Gabriel Vilardi started the play by picking up a loose puck in the offensive zone and sprinted up the ice, recording the second assist for his 21st helper of the season and extending his current point streak to five games.

Then Ontario regrouped and in the final minute, Tynan fed an open Andersson on the goal line for a chance. The Swede put the puck between his legs for a shot that deflected off of Prosvetov and into the goal to tie the game at 19:28.

Frk ended the game at 1:22 of overtime with the winning strike, his 28th goal of the season off a pass by Tynan. The tally was his fifth game-winning goal of the year and his second overtime strike.

Prosvetov turned aside 24 shots in a losing effort for Tucson. For the second straight game, the Roadrunners had the lone power play tally in the contest, finishing 1-for-3 on the man-advantage while Ontario was 0-for-3.

Chris Hajt
On his team starting slow but finding a way to win.
We found a way to tie it up at the end which we’ll take, but the other parts of the game we wont. We need to be better. We need to improve on different parts of our game. Give Tucson a lot of credit. They played really hard and really well, and put a lot of pressure on us in loose puck battles and around our net.

On Lias Andersson’s performance in his first game back from injury
It was a good start for him. He’s missed a lot of time. It’s been a tough year for him and its nice that he can come down and get some opportunities to play. He played in different situations: power play, penalty kill, and obviously on the 6-on-5. He’ll just keep getting better and better and I was really happy with his game.

On the importance of Andersson’s familiarity with the rest of the Reign team
That’s a huge part of being at the same location at the same rink [as the Kings]. There’s a wall that separates us. A lot of the guys live together and that’s a huge advantage. Lias was with us last year and he was able to fit right in. There are a lot of relationships that he has with a number of the guys, and you can just pass each other in the parking lot and that’s a great thing.

Lias Andersson
On how he felt tonight in his first game returning from injury
I felt alright, actually. I thought I was going to be more tired and have heavy legs, but I got some shots in early and felt like I got the jump back in my legs quickly. It was a solid first game back. We started off slow as a team but I think we were better in the second and even better in the third.

On what the final few minutes of regulation were like with the goaltender pulled
You don’t want to be down, but you want to be playing in those situations that matter. I missed that a lot. I had that in preseason and it played a big role. It was fun and I enjoyed it. I like being in the heat where it happens. Tynan made a good play on that last goal. I didn’t have much but I knew the defender was going to slide low so I tried to find a way to get a shot on net.

On when he saw the puck go in on his second goal
I saw it go off [the goalie’s] blocker. I tried to get it on the far side and it bounced over him and in. It all happened so fast but it was nice to see it go in, especially after we didn’t play so well in the first and then we came back and won it. It was great.

Ontario finished with wins in five of their eight games against Tucson during the regular season. The Reign are back in action this weekend when they host the Henderson Silver Knights in a two-game series beginning Friday night at 7 p.m. PST.