The Ontario Reign fell behind early in the first but came roaring back with a seven-goal explosion to defeat the San Diego Gulls in Game 1 of their Pacific Division First Round series by a final score of 7-4. Reign forwards Samuel Fagemo and Akil Thomas each scored twice in the victory, while forward Vladimir Tkachev registered a goal and an assist.
Ontario’s league-best power play continued its success at the start of the postseason, going 2-for-4 on the night, while the club’s penalty kill was a perfect 4-for-4, holding San Diego off the scoreboard on special teams. The Reign hold a 1-0 lead in the best-of-3 series with a chance to eliminate the Gulls with a win in Game 2 on Thursday night at Toyota Arena.
More from Reign Assistant Coach Chris Hajt, as well as forwards Fagemo and Thomas below –
The Gulls stunned Ontario early on, scoring their first goal of the night just 11 seconds into the first period when Josh Lopina put a loose puck over the shoulder of goaltender Matt Villalta and into the top right corner of the net to make it 1-0.
San Diego extended their lead to 2-0 at 7:47 on a goal by Hunter Drew that came off a shot from the right circle. Drew led San Diego with six goals against Ontario during the regular season and made them pay early once again in the first period of the postseason.
But things turned around for the Reign at 10:26 of the first when Fagemo beat Lukas Dostal with a shot up high to get Ontario on the board and cut the Gulls’ lead to 2-1. Fagemo’s strike was assisted by his linemates Tkachev and forward Alex Turcotte.
Then with Martin Frk in the penalty box for tripping, Austin Wagner stole away a pass and scored shorthanded on a breakaway rush to even up the game at 2-2 with six minutes to go in the opening period.
The Reign took their first lead of the night when Fagemo one-timed a pass from defender Christian Wolanin by Dostal in the waning moments of a power play opportunity to make it 3-2 at 18:59 of the first.
Tkachev netted the lone goal of the second period on the power play at 16:03 from Turcotte and Wolanin, streaking through the Gulls’ defense with a multiple highlight-reel moves before sliding the puck by Dostal and into the net to give Ontario some insurance and make it 4-2.
San Diego found life at 3:18 of the third when Trevor Carrick made it a 4-3 game, creeping into the left circle before knocking a shot to the top right corner of the net to tighten the Reign lead back to one goal.
But Thomas answered right back less than three minutes later at 5:32 with his first goal of the contest on a shot from the high slot that found the top of the net to push Ontario back in front by two at 5-3. Forward Taylor Ward picked up the lone assist on the play, posting his first career playoff point.
Less than two minutes later, Frk found some space off a rush into the San Diego end and blasted a shot by Dostal to make it a 6-3 game. Frk’s tally came from forward TK Tynan and defender Nelson Nogier and forced the Gulls to make a goaltending change, with Olle Eriksson Ek replacing Dostal for the remainder of the night.
In the final minutes of the contest, Thomas put the puck into an empty net while the Reign were killing a penalty to Jaret Anderson-Dolan for his second goal of the night to make it 7-3 at 18:32. Before the final buzzer, San Diego’s Alex Limoges got on the board at 19:23 to cap the scoring.
Ontario outshot San Diego 39-26 in the game and Villalta earned the win with 22 saves in the contest. Dostal also stopped 22 shots in a losing effort for the Gulls, while Eriksson Ek turned aside all 10 shots that came his way in 11:07 of the third period.
Chris Hajt
On responding to an early 2-0 deficit
We talked about going into playoffs and the up and downs and ebbs and flows of playoff hockey. You never want to get too high or too low. The bench was saying all the right things. The guys stepped it up and we were able to come out of the period better than how we started. We just stuck with it and got some key goals and that’s playoff hockey. You’ve got to stick with it, keep what you’re doing, and the guys did that.
On Vladimir Tkachev’s 3-point performance
Vladdy makes a ton of plays out there. He has great hands and great vision. He’s cool as a cucumber out there and he showed it. It was a really great goal with that composure he has. Along the wall he makes really subtle plays so I’m that he had such a great game.
On Akil Thomas’ impact the last few weeks
It’s kind of like the game tonight. He just stuck with it. We stuck with it as a team. He puts so much time, effort, and work into his game. He takes his craft seriously and he’s always doing extra and taking care of his body. He’s doing so many things right with wanting the puck, making plays, and being a responsible 200-foot player. He works on his shot all the time too, so happy for him too.
On the second power play unit scoring twice
It’s huge. You need everyone to contribute. They got the opportunity and they were able to put the puck in the net. We really needed that tonight and good for them to supply that for the team.
On the quick turnaround to Game 2
We’ll watch the video and make any necessary adjustments we need to make. At the end of the season we had a couple three-game series, one against San Diego and one against Colorado, where we treated it as a three-game [playoff]. We know that they’ll come out and be desperate and we need to make sure we’re on our game.
Samuel Fagemo
On bouncing back from a 2-0 deficit
It was a pretty tough start there. We let one in on the first shift, then let one in later as well, so a 2-0 lead to the Gulls is pretty tough. I think we have good confidence in the group and stayed patient. We just played with confidence.
On his goal to get the team on the scoreboard
I was just trying to shoot the puck on the net and use the defense as a screen there. I think it was a good drop pass from Vladdy too. It was fun to see the puck go in.
On the second power play unit scoring twice
I think its huge to use two units. As soon as the first unit didn’t have it in the game, I think the second unit stepped up and kept up the tempo and got two goals. That’s a good sign that we can use a lot of different players on the power play. It’s a huge positive.
On participating in a full playoff series
Oh my gosh, it was so fun to play in the real playoffs again. There was so much more feeling and passion for the game. Fifteen more wins.
On what to focus on for Game 2
We just have to keep it simple and patient. Just have fun with it, stick to our game plan, and shoot the puck on net.
Akil Thomas
On turning the game around after the early deficit
It was way different. Obviously it started off on the wrong foot. It felt weird being down early 2-0, especially in a short series, and we had to turn it around quick. I think that’s a feeling we’ll remember for the whole playoffs. I will, for sure. We had to pick it up. It was a good eye opener for us and we’ll use it going forward. They took it to us, so they got a goal off the start. Momentum was kind of in their favor. A couple bounces go their way early and we just did exactly what we could and turned it around. We didn’t try to do too much. We just simplified our game and the puck found the back of the net. That’s just what we do.
On his first of two goals tonight
I’m glad I got the puck. I knew I didn’t have too much time to shoot it so I just ripped it and was hoping for the best. It went in and it felt good.
On his midseason turnaround and impressing in the final 15 games
I tried to believe that it was coming. Obviously it was really tough during that stretch. I was trying to find it and was frustrated, but with that time I missed in kind of just needed to happen. Right now, I’m just happy that I’ve found my stride and I’m not thinking about the first 20 games anymore. I’m just focused on the moment and my opportunity going forward. You never know when it’s the last game in the playoffs so I’m just trying to build up my momentum. It’s a new season for me.
The Reign and Gulls are back at it for Game 2 of the series on Thursday night at Toyota Arena. We’ll have a preview of that contest tomorrow morning along with postgame coverage of a potential series-ending tilt later on right here on LAKI.
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