Samuel Helenius scored the opening goal of the night to trigger the Teddy Bear Toss and the Ontario Reign (15-7-2-1) saw their shooters go a perfect 3-for-3 in a shootout to produce a 5-4 win over the Colorado Eagles (11-9-3-1) on Saturday night at Toyota Arena.
Charles Hudon posted his fourth multi-point night against his former team for Ontario in the win with a goal and an assist, while Hayden Hodgson scored his first goal as a member of the Reign and Akil Thomas netted a goal in both the first period and the shootout. Ontario is still in second place in the Pacific Division with 33 points in the standings.
Helenius opened the scoring and set the bears free at 7:31 of the first, scoring on a deflection off a shot by defenseman Tyler Inamoto that slowly rolled over the goal line to make it 1-0.
After all the stuffed animals were cleaned off the ice, Thomas added on to Ontario’s early lead with a power play goal at 10:13 of the first. Thomas’ seventh goal of the season came on a quick shot from just above the top of the crease off a pass from Hudon, who had been camped out behind the net.
A second assist on the strike was credited to Samuel Fagemo which extended his point-scoring streak to six games. With 20 points in 14 contests, Fagemo has been on the scoresheet in all but one of his AHL appearances this season.
But Colorado got back into the game before the first intermission, scoring twice in a span of less than four minutes. First, Tanner Kero found the back of the net on the power play at 16:53, before Ivan Ivan scored to even the game at 2-2 with a strike at 18:38.
Hudon put the Reign back in front with a goal during 4-on-4 play at 13:13 of the second, his 11th of the year and fifth against the Eagles. Hudon has registered seven total points in four games against Colorado this season. Ontario’s leading scorers each assisted on the tally, with TJ Tynan and Brandt Clarke each earning their 26th point of the campaign.
40 seconds later, Hodgson made it a 4-2 game with a power play at 13:53 from forwards Andre Lee and Tyler Madden. Lee set up the goal with a quick spin move before his pass to Hodgson after Madden left him the puck at the side of the net.
Once again however, Colorado climbed back into the game with two goals at the end of the second period in quick succession less than two minutes apart from each other. Brad Hunt scored at 17:04 to cut the lead back down to a single goal before setting up fellow defender Wyatt Aamodt for the equalizer at 18:56.
Neither team was able to score in either the third period or overtime, and the game remained tied at 4-4 all the way to the shootout.
Thomas, Taylor Ward and Fagemo all found a way to beat Colorado goaltender Trent Minor in the skill session to give the Reign a win and an extra point in the standings.
Erik Portillo got the start in goal for Ontario and stopped 23 shots in the victory, while Minor turned out 25 Reign attempts for Colorado. The Reign finished the game at 2-for-5 on the power play, while the Eagles ended at 1-for-5.
Postgame thoughts from head coach Marco Sturm and Thomas are below.
Marco Sturm
Akil Thomas
The Reign hit the road next week for a two-game series in Abbotsford against the Canucks beginning Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
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