An overtime goal by Jakub Brabenec gave the Henderson Silver Knights (12-10-1-2) their first win over the Ontario Reign (14-7-2-1) this season by a score of 3-2 Wednesday night at Toyota Arena.
The Reign got goals from TJ Tynan and Taylor Ward in the contest, while Charles Hudon and Samuel Fagemo each posted assists to extend their respective point streaks to five games. By securing one point from the overtime loss, the Reign continue to hold second place in the Pacific Division with 31 points in the standings.
Tynan opened the scoring early on, netting his fifth goal of the season on the first shot of the game at 3:15 to put Ontario ahead 1-0. Assists on the strike were credited to his two linemates, Hudon and Martin Chromiak.
Henderson evened the game at 1-1 later in the period at 11:00 when Adam Cracknell redirected a pass by Brendan Brisson into the goal at the side of the net.
The Silver Knights went in front 2-1 at 3:49 of the middle frame on a goal by Jakub Brabenec off a rebound that deflected past Reign goaltender David Rittich.
Less than six minutes later, Ontario tied the game up at 2-2 on Ward’s second strike of the season which came on a wrister to the top right corner off a cross-ice feed from Fagemo. Cole Krygier picked up a second assist on the play, which came at 9:42 of the second.
The game remained deadlocked for the entirety of the third period, which featured six shots on goal by the Reign and five from Henderson.
Brabenec scored on the Silver Knights’ only shot of overtime, netting the game-winner on a breakaway at 1:12 of the extra session.
Henderson goaltender Isaiah Saville stopped 19 shots to pick up the victory in the contest, while Rittich turned out 20 shots in a losing effort for Ontario. Cracknell’s strike was the lone power play goal of the game, with the Silver Knights going 1-for-2 on the man-advantage while holding the Reign to an 0-for-2 mark.
Postgame thoughts from head coach Marco Sturm and Ward are below.
Marco Sturm
On his team’s overall play in the loss
We had a really good start. The flow was good. The skating was good. On that penalty kill, somebody just unplugged us a little bit. That’s how it felt. We were not the same after that. The passing was very average, or below average. We were turning pucks over. Overall, I was not happy with our game today. We were just holding on, almost hoping for a point, and that’s not how you win in this league or any league.
On Taylor Ward scoring his second goal of the season
He’s had a ton of opportunities as of late and just couldn’t find the back of the net. He did today. Overall, today probably wasn’t his best game, but for the last few weeks, he’s been really good. He worked hard again and again and that’s what we need from him. He’s a year older now compared to last year. That means we also expect more from him and so far he’s been pretty good.
On Tobias Bjornfot completing his conditioning loan
We will miss him, that’s for sure. He’s a good kid. He got better every day and every game. We could see it. Unfortunately, he got hit out there in Coachella and that kind of threw a curveball toward him, but he got out of it. I wish he would have been able to be here for another little while because I’ve seen the progress. At the end of the day, like he says all the time, he just wants to play. I hope he gets the opportunity again with the Kings but it was definitely nice to have him in our lineup.
On paring Bjornfot with Brandt Clarke while in Ontario
That’s where [Bjornfot’s] strength is, playing with an offensive guy like Clarke. Toby has his back and he’s very solid defensively. I think the one part he needs to be better at is probably anything with the puck. He’s working on that. Other than that, defensively he is good and so strong. He gets in there and that makes him so good. Sometimes he has to get out of his comfort zone a little bit to get even more [comfortable], and that’s what we hope he was trying to do here. Having a mix like [Clarke and Bjornfot] makes them really good.
On Saturday’s upcoming Teddy Bear Toss game
It’s always a special night. For me personally, it was the first time I had experienced that last year and going really well with Andre Lee scoring the game-winner. Hopefully, we can repeat the same thing as last year on Saturday Night.
Taylor Ward
On the game overall
I think sometimes those games happen. Some games are more defensive, some games are more wide open, and depending on how the game is going, its going to [affect] how we play and how we go about our business. It was a bit of a sloppy game out there and not a whole bunch of plays were being made. Those are the games we just have to dial in defensively and try to stay strong in the middle of the ice and keep it simple. Some parts of the game I think we did a good job, and others I don’t think we did very well.
On playing on a line with Akil Thomas
Obviously every game you play, you build a little bit more chemistry with the guys you’re playing with. I’ve been playing with Akil for probably a month now, and we’re starting to feel pretty comfortable with each other out there, so it makes it easier at some points. He can do it all. He can play wing, center, on the power play or on the penalty kill, and take O-zone draws and D-zone draws. He can do pretty much everything, so there’s never really a concern when I’m out there with him. That just allows me to focus on what I have to do and try to play good with him, because he’s a fun guy to play with. It’s cool to watch how versatile he is as a player.
On the team’s strong forecheck early in the game
In order to get your forecheck going, you need to move the puck north. I think that early in the game we were doing a good job of that. I think that as the game went on, we started to bring the puck back and Sturmy made that very clear between periods, and he was right. We just kept bringing the puck back and that slows us down in the neutral zone and slows our forecheck down when we do chip it in. We’re just getting back to basics and getting back to our identity of playing fast and playing north. Once we do that, everything else kind of falls into place, so we just need to be much better at that.
The Reign will be back on the Toyota Arena ice to host the Colorado Eagles Saturday night at 6 p.m.
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