The Ontario Reign (19-11-3-1) erased a first period two-goal deficit but fell short to the Calgary Wranglers (22-9-3-0) by a score of 3-2 Thursday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome after surrendering a late strike to forward Mark Rassell in the third period.
Samuel Fagemo scored both of Ontario’s tallies in the game on the power play and is now tied for the AHL’s goal-scoring lead with 20 despite playing in only 23 of the Reign’s 33 contests this season. He also moved into first in the league with nine man-advantage goals.
Reign captain TJ Tynan assisted on both of his team’s tallies in the contest and now has a club-high 25 helpers on the season which ranks fourth among active AHL skaters. Erik Portillo was busy all night in the Reign crease and kept his team in the game by stopping 33 of Calgary’s 36 shots on goal.
Although Calgary came up short on a power play look they generated in the opening minute of the game, Lucas Ciona found the back of the net just over a minute later, netting the first tally of the game at 3:29 to put the Wranglers ahead 1-0.
Mitch McLain extended the lead for Calgary to 2-0 at 13:52, but that was the final shot the home team was able to muster in the first. Ontario had the next seven attempts on net before the period came to a close, including Fagemo’s first strike of the night.
Ontario cut the score to 2-1 on the power play, with Fagemo cashing in on a passing play that began with Charles Hudon tipping a loose puck off a blocked shot to Tynan. The Reign captain settled things down and found Akil Thomas in the low slot, who then touched it on for Fagemo at the left circle. Fagemo’s 19th of the season came at 17:50 of the first.
Portillo kept Ontario within a goal for the majority of the second with multiple highlight-reel saves that held Calgary off the board. Just like in the first, the Wranglers had a 12-4 edge in shots during the beginning 15 minutes of the frame, but the Reign had seven of the last eight attempts at the Calgary goal, including the equalizer by Fagemo at 18:51.
With Calgary’s Oliver Kylington in the penalty box for tripping, Ontario went to work on the power play and produced multiple opportunities in the offensive zone before Jacob Moverare found Fagemo for his second tally of the night.
Moverare earned his eighth assist from his last seven games and now has 13 helpers in 23 AHL contests with Ontario this season along with a team-leading plus-9 rating.
The game remained even throughout the third until Rassell put the Wranglers ahead for good at 17:07 by crashing the net and slotting a rebound off Portillo’s right pad into the back of the cage.
Ontario controlled play on special teams, going 2-for-3 on the power play while holding Calgary to an 0-for-4 mark on the man-advantage.
The Reign remain in second place in the Pacific Division with 42 points despite falling to Calgary in regulation for the first time this year.
Marco Sturm
On tonight’s loss
The energy was just not there, right from the start. Yes, we came back but it was all on the power play. We were just not good enough. They beat us on pucks and they just wanted it more than us. Yes, its frustrating to get scored on with a few minutes left in the game but at the end of the day, they probably should have scored before that. We were hoping for a point and that didn’t happen. We have to learn from that.
On tonight’s effort in the first game in Calgary
I thought there were some guys who were good. Did everyone play their best? No, absolutely not. Again, if you want to play against one of the top teams in the league, you’ve got to be at your best. We just had too many passengers today and we were not good enough to beat a good team. We need all of them. We can’t come with only eight guys on this trip. We need the full package, especially with a lot of guys out and a lot of injuries.
On the impressive special teams performance
That’s something we talked about before the game. I was fine actually, even when we took a few dumb penalties in the third period. I felt very comfortable with our penalty kill. The power play got it done and they kept us in the game. It’s just our five-on-five mentality and the way we didn’t want to defend. We have to compete.
On making corrections for tomorrow night’s game
I think the mental side is more than a tactic. We know how we have to play and what makes us successful. We’re going to look at it like we always do and help those guys out. At the end of the day, there were all sorts of guys who were on the ice and they have to show up. If you don’t show up, you look like a player who’s not really interested, and that’s not good. That’s not who we are. That’s not what we want to be and that’s how we have to get better.
On Samuel Fagemo tying the league’s goal-scoring leader
He’s been great. I can say it over and over that we are so lucky to have him. He’s a pure goal-scorer and he wants to shoot, and we don’t have too much of that. I don’t even know why he didn’t make the All-Star Game, but that’s a different story. He’s different because he wants it. Hopefully, he’s going to get a chance here with the Kings or even someone else because he’s one of those players that’s tough to find. With his shot, he’s very dangerous. You can see [his attitude] now. We’re trying to work on other guys on our team too. It’s a learning process. It takes time and all of a sudden, he feels it. It makes him totally different. If you look around the league and around the NHL at the top guys, they want it. Sammy is the best example in the AHL for sure.
Samuel Fagemo
Ontario will complete its series in Calgary with the third contest of its five-game road trip on Friday at 6 p.m. PST inside Scotiabank Saddledome.
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