The Colorado Eagles (4-5-0) scored four goals in the second on their way to a 7-3 decision Saturday night over the Ontario Reign (7-2-0) at the Budweiser Events Center.
Ontario forwards Lias Andersson and Alan Quine each had a goal and an assist in a losing effort, while captain TJ Tynan and defenseman Jordan Spence both posted two helpers.
More from head coach Marco Sturm and Quine below.
The Eagles got the scoring started at 7:47 of the first on a power play tally that came from Oskar Olausson with just one second remaining in a roughing penalty to Austin Wagner.
But Ontario responded 31 seconds later to tie the game at 1-1 on a goal by Quine. A forechecking effort by TJ Tynan in the offensive zone won the puck free from the Eagles’ control and he gave a quick lateral pass over to Quine who scored on a wrist shot from the slot that beat goaltender Jonas Johansson over the glove.
With less than four minutes remaining in the first Colorado netted their second power play goal of the period on a shot by Charles Hudon and the Eagles took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
The second was a whole different animal for the Reign, however, as the Eagles found the back of the net four consecutive times to open up a large 6-1 lead. Olausson scored his second goal of the night at 7:42 to push Colorado’s advantage to two and Mitchell Vande Sompel deflected a puck into the net off his skate at 10:27. The call on the ice was reviewed by the officials but was ultimately upheld.
Callahan Burke tacked on another strike at 12:08 and before the end of the period Jayson Megna found the back of the net on a shorthanded breakaway at 17:01.
Sampo Ranta scored the final goal of the evening for Colorado, their sixth consecutive tally, at 4:54 of the third.
Ontario got a bit closer in the third with consecutive goals by Akil Thomas and Andersson less than three minutes apart from each other at 5:55 and 8:17, but were unable to get any more offense on the board to mount a comeback in the closing minutes.
Jonas Johansson, who suffered the loss in Thursday’s win for Ontario, reversed his fortune Saturday by making 22 saves to pick up a victory. Pheonix Copley got the start in net for the Reign, but was replaced by Matt Villalta midway through the second after allowing his fifth goal against. Copley ended with 15 saves while Villalta stopped 13 shots in relief.
The Eagles finished 2-for-4 on the power play, while the Reign ended at 1-for-6 with Thomas’ third period tally counting as the lone man-advantage strike. Colorado held a 35-25 edge in shots on goal during the contest.
Ontario is back in action on Thursday when they travel to San Jose to face the Barracuda at Tech CU Arena beginning at 7 p.m.
Marco Sturm
On what went wrong tonight
We just got outworked, out-battled, and outplayed. That’s just the bottom line. There’s nothing to hide. I think we all saw it, and hopefully the players did too. We knew they were going to push back out there and we had nothing to push back with. That’s probably the most disappointing part of it.
On the impact of special teams
It’s always a big part. Our PK was just not ready today and our power play didn’t get it done either. We can’t rely on just goaltending every night. Sometimes you have to look in the mirror and push back on nights like that. Unfortunately, only a few guys did that tonight.
On using the loss as a learning opportunity
We’re going to try to learn from that one. Hockey is not always great. There are going to be a lot of ups and downs. We’ve all done it before. So far its been really good, so maybe we were due. We’ve had some games with really good goaltending where we didn’t play well. Today, it was just overall not good enough. We just have to make sure that it’s not going to happen again.
Alan Quine
On what to take away from the game
I think we had a game plan and we were right there, but then they got a couple quick ones on us. They’re a good team. We’ve been pretty fortunate with the way we’ve started the season, so that’s [a game] we can learn from and analyze and move on. Hopefully it will help us down the stretch.
On logging significant time on the power play
We’d like to capitalize more, especially on the five minute advantage, but it’s a new group for me and we haven’t had a ton of practice time. I think the more power plays we get, the better we’re going to click and gel off each other. Its just a learning game for us so we’ve got to regroup for the next one.
On making in-game adjustments while on the power play
We’re trying to react off of each and every team, and each and every period. We’re all discussing how we can beat it and unfortunately we came up a little bit short tonight. It’s just one game and we’re going to learn from it.
On sharing a line with T.J. Tynan and Lias Andersson
Tynan and Lias [Andersson] are great players so it was fun to play with them and get some chemistry. I think the more we play together, the more we’ll read off each other and know what each other’s tendencies are.
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