12/30 REIGN FINAL – Reign 7, Silver Knights 1 – Sturm, Ingham, Wylie

The Ontario Reign (16-9-3-1) produced their biggest offensive output of the season Saturday night in a 7-1 win over the Henderson Silver Knights (15-13-1-2) at The Dollar Loan Center which included a five-goal first period. Goaltender Jacob Ingham stopped 39 shots in his first AHL start of the season to earn the victory.

13 of Ontario’s skaters registered a point in the winning effort, including Brandt Clarke who picked up three points with a goal and two assists for his second consecutive multi-point outing, as well as Akil Thomas who also posted a goal and two helpers. Wyatte Wylie added his first AHL goal of the year and both Charles Hudon and Francesco Pinelli each had a goal and an assist.

BOX SCORE

Ontario’s five-goal first was its highest-scoring period of the season to date, and they did it while being outshot by a 21-9 margin. Ingham was the difference in net for the Reign, stopping 20 of Henderson’s opportunities in the first 20 minutes.

Tyler Madden opened the scoring for Ontario, netting his sixth of the season 5:29 into the first to make it 1-0 by deflecting a shot from the left point by Clarke past goaltender Isaiah Saville. Pinelli picked up the second assist on the Reign’s first tally, his second helper of the season.

Thomas made it a 2-0 game at 7:41, banging in a rebound from the top of the crease that came off a sharp-angle shot by Taylor Ward.

Hudon extended the lead to 3-0 for Ontario just after the halfway mark of the period at 10:05 by one-timing a pass from Clarke into the net from the right circle to pick up his 12th goal of the season. Samuel Fagemo was credited with the second assist on the play, giving him points in 16 of his 18 AHL games this season with the Reign.

Mason Morelli got the Silver Knights on the board at 14:21 of the first, scoring on their 17th shot of the period with a wrister under the crossbar to make it 3-1.

But Wylie responded with his first goal as a member of the Reign just over a minute later at 15:30 with a wrister from the right point that found its way through traffic and into the net. The goal, which had assists credited to Samuel Helenius and Cole Krygier, made it 4-1.

Clarke added to the lead before the end of the period at 18:58 with his seventh tally of the season to put Ontario in front 5-1 by roofing a shot from the right circle for his third point of the period with assists from both Fagemo and Hudon.

Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the second, which featured another 14 saves by Ingham.

The Reign tacked on a pair of goals in the third, a period where they outshot Henderson 9-5.

Martin Chromiak drove to the net and scored his eighth goal of the year at 13:53 to extend the lead to 6-1 on a play that had assists by Thomas and Kim Nousiainen.

Pinelli put the exclamation point on the victory for Ontario, wristing home the fourth goal of his rookie season with less than two minutes remaining in the game with assists from Moverare and Thomas.

The Reign successfully killed off all three of Henderson’s man-advantage opportunities in the game and scored all seven of their goals at even-strength as they finished the contest without earning a power play advantage.

Saville was replaced by Jesper Vikman in the Henderson net at the beginning of the second period after stopping four shots during the opening 20 minutes. Vikman remained in the game for both the second and third periods and ended the contest with 15 saves.

Marco Sturm

Jacob Ingham

Wyatte Wylie

The Reign will host the Silver Knights in the back end of their weekend home-and-home series to conclude the 2023 calendar year on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 5 p.m.