The Ontario Reign (19-10-3-1) got an early goal from Samuel Fagemo and led throughout in a 4-1 defeat of the San Jose Barracuda (11-16-5-0) Tuesday night at Tech CU Arena to secure their third straight victory in a five-day span over their division foe from Northern California.
Fagemo added an assist and later scored an empty-net goal in the final minute to finish with a three-point night and earn the first star. Charles Hudon also found the back of the net on the power play, while Akil Thomas scored shorthanded. Erik Portillo stopped 36 of 37 shots in goal to earn the 10th win of his rookie season.
Ontario moved into a tie for second place in the Pacific Division with the Tucson Roadrunners, as each team has secured 42 points in the standings. With the win, the Reign are now 5-0-0 against the Barracuda this season.
Fagemo opened the scoring at 4:05 of the first with his fourth goal of the series, his seventh against San Jose in five games this year and the 17th overall tally he’s put in the back of the net this season. His goal came off a wrist shot from the left wing with assists to defensemen Wyatte Wylie and Cole Krygier.
Ontario carried the early lead throughout the remainder of the first before extending it to 2-0 early in the second on Hudon’s 13th of the season at 2:25 on a blast from the right side off a feed by Jacob Moverare.
Fagemo earned the second helper on the play to reach the 30-point plateau for the year. It’s the third consecutive season that the Swedish attacker has hit the milestone.
Moverare earned his seventh assist from his last six games and now has 12 helpers in 22 AHL games with Ontario this season along with a team-leading plus-10 rating.
At 5:35 of the second, Thomas scored his third goal in as many games during the series with San Jose, picking up a loose puck in the corner of the offensive zone before out-waiting goaltender Eetu Makiniemi with a forehand deke at the front of the net. Steven Santini recorded the lone assist on the strike that made it a 3-0 game.
The Reign skated into the second intermission with their three-goal advantage after Portillo stopped a total of 14 shots in the middle frame.
San Jose got on the board at 12:57 of the third after Hudon was robbed on a point-blank chance with a glove save by Makiniemi. The Cuda won the ensuing faceoff and moments later Danil Gushchin beat Portillo over the shoulder with a high wrister to cut the Ontario lead to 3-1.
But the Reign kept San Jose off the board for the remainder of the night and tacked on Fagemo’s empty-net strike at 19:08 of the final frame, which came with an assist by Tyler Madden who skated the puck out of his end before finding Fagemo on his right for the 18th goal of his campaign which moved him within two tallies of the league goal-scoring lead.
Ontario finished 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Barracuda were held scoreless on the man advantage, going 0-for-3. Makiniemi took the loss despite stopping 28 shots for San Jose.
Marco Sturm
On sweeping the three-game stretch with San Jose
We wanted to win all three games obviously, and I think the guys did a really good job to get the job done. That was our mission today, [especially] in the third period. We didn’t want to repeat what happened the other day and the guys did a much better job today.
On the special teams breaking through
They had a good penalty kill, so they gave us a hard time in these three games. We struggled early, especially last game, and today we kind of loosened it up a little bit and also tried to shoot more. That’s how we break teams down sometimes. And on the PK, we changed a little bit as well and it worked out well. I always say the same thing, especially with our team. [Special teams] is huge and they’ve been really, really solid the last few days.
On the leadership group of players
Those are the key guys. Moverare and Santini on defense and Hudon and Tynan at forward, because when you lose guys or they get called up, those guys have to step up. We had some meetings with the leadership group and they came through, and that’s why we wanted to get more leadership last summer. That’s why we got Santini, Hicketts and Connauton, because of situations like this. We want all of them in the lineup but its huge to have at least one or two when it matters.
On Portillo and Ingham in the games versus San Jose
I give credit to [San Jose]. They gave it hard and were always in the paint. They’re always in front of the goalie, so it’s always nice to have tall goalies like Portillo and Ingham. Both are really tall and did a really good job with the guys in front of the net [against San Jose]. It was a good combination of blocking shots and having those kinds of saves if they’re not blocked.
On going to Calgary this week
I’m excited already. These are the kinds of games you want to play in, especially in their building. I always love to go to Calgary. It’s going to be a long travel day tomorrow but once we’re there, I think we should be fired up for those kinds of games. We’re going to take it day by day, but we want to have good games up there too, and steal some wins if possible.
Steven Santini
Ontario continues its five-game road trip in Calgary on Thursday for a 6 p.m. PST matchup with the Wranglers at the Scotiabank Saddledome that begins a two-game series between the clubs.
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