REIGN FINAL – Reign 4, Roadrunners 0 – Sturm, Petersen

Cal Petersen stopped 19 shots to record the ninth shutout of his AHL career Wednesday night as the Ontario Reign (31-26-4-1) defeated the Tucson Roadrunners (27-29-6-0) by a 4-0 score and earn a split of the final series of the 2022-23 season between the two teams.

Ontario got goals from four different skaters in the win, including Tobias Bjornfot, Tyler Madden, Aidan Dudas and Martin Chromiak. Alex Turcotte returned to the lineup for the first time since Feb. 15 and recorded an assist, Nate Schnarr also earned his first point as a member of the Reign, assisting on Chromiak’s third period goal.

BOX SCORE

The Reign dictated much of the play in the first frame, as four minor penalties were whistled to Tucson in the first 20 minutes of action. But Ontario was unable to solve goaltender Tyler Parks, who stopped all 10 shots that came his way. The teams entered the first intermission with the score still 0-0 for the second consecutive evening.

But Ontario had better luck in the second, scoring three times to put some breathing room in between them and the Roadrunners. Early on in the second, after a cross-checking penalty to Michael Carcone, Bjornfot converted on the man-advantage at 3:53 by finding room in the high slot to score on Parks for the second straight day and make it 1-0.

Later in the frame, the Reign used a good forecheck in the offensive zone to generate their second tally of the night when TJ Tynan found Madden open in the slot for a quick strike. The goal, which came at 13:49 and made it 2-0, was Madden’s 17th of the season and his 30th point which is one shy of a career-high.

Dudas tacked on a shorthanded goal at 15:13 to make it 3-0 after Turcotte picked up a loose puck just inside the Reign blue line and found his winger for the finish with a deke to his backhand.

Ontario added one more to their lead in the third, while continuing to hold Tucson off the board. After Parks had trouble with a shot from the point by Helge Grans, Chromiak blasted the puck into the back of the net for his 15th goal of the season at 13:47 of the final frame.

The Reign outshot Tucson 31-19 in the contest and had nine man-advantage situations. Ontario went 1-for-9 on the power play, while holding the Roadrunners to an 0-for-4 mark in the win. Parks, who started for a second straight day, just like Petersen, stopped 27 shots in the contest for Tucson.

Marco Sturm

Cal Petersen

The Reign return home on Friday night for the first of two weekend meetings against the Abbotsford Canucks at Toyota Arena. Friday’s matchup will begin at 7 p.m.