1/16 REIGN FINAL – Reign 4, Canucks 3 – Sturm, Lee & Turcotte

15 saves in the third period by Erik Portillo held the Abbotsford Canucks (19-12-2-1) off the board late and gave the Ontario Reign (21-11-3-1) a 4-3 road win on Tuesday night in the opener of a two-game series at the Abbotsford Centre.

Andre Lee scored twice during a three-goal first for Ontario, while Alex Turcotte, who returned to the lineup for his first game of 2024, netted the game-winner on the power play in the third. Akil Thomas assisted on Turcotte’s deciding goal to extend his current point streak to six games.

BOX SCORE

Lee opened the scoring at 8:23 of the first by deflecting home a wrist shot from the left point by defenseman Kim Nousiainen to put Ontario ahead 1-0. Forward Hayden Hodgson earned the second assist on the play, picking up his third point of the season.

Ontario extended the lead to 2-0 less than five minutes later at 13:06 off a quick passing play in the offensive zone that went from Taylor Ward to Wyatte Wylie and finished with Tyler Madden scoring his seventh strike of the year on a one-timer from the inside of the right circle.

After Martin Chromiak was called for tripping at 14:36, Lee stole the puck in neutral ice and cashed in on a shorthanded breakaway for his second goal of the night to make it 3-0.

Abbotsford turned the game around in the second period, scoring three goals of their own on nine shots just like Ontario did in the first.

Former Reign defender Christian Wolanin got the Canucks on the board at 1:23, before Linus Karlsson potted the second at 6:08 and Aidan McDonough evened the game up at 14:22.

Led by Portillo, who finished with 33 saves, Ontario held Abbotsford’s attack at bay for the remainder of the contest.

Turcotte converted on the Reign’s lone power play opportunity of the game at 8:06 of the third to put Ontario back on top for good, redirecting a shot by Charles Hudon past goaltender Arturs Silovs and into the net.

Silovs suffered the loss for the Canucks, turning out 17 shots for the home team. In addition to Turcotte’s power play goal, the Reign were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill, discarding a chance in both the first and second periods.

The Reign kept pace in the Pacific Division standings with 46 points as they hit the midway point of the season.

Marco Sturm
On tonight’s win
We played a really outstanding first period. Everyone was involved. We had everyone going and lost a guy with Doty going down early on, but the guys did a great job. We came out totally different and flat in the second period. We knew they were coming and pushing, and we were just not good. We just weren’t prepared so we had to grind it out at the end unfortunately, but we’ll take the two points. [Portillo] made some good saves and we played better defense, but there’s a lot of times we shouldn’t be in that position. All of a sudden, we sit back too much. We came up with a big power play goal, so that was huge, but overall we just have to play the way we started and that’s something we’re lacking right now a little bit. Somehow, we find ways to win so I’ve got to give the guys big credit for that.

On Turcotte’s return and the depth at center
It also gives me more options. Sammy [Helenius] came up big the last few games. He’s played a bigger role and has way more minutes, so it was really good. It’s always good to have Turcotte back. He’s been out for a while and in key situations we definitely missed him. It’s nice to have him.

On Turcotte and Connauton joining the team in the middle of the trip
I think we’re also lucky that one of them was a veteran. Those kinds of players don’t need much time because they’re smart enough and they’ve been around. They know exactly what they need. With Turcotte, I was just worried about his engine. He never really practiced with the team, maybe just one or two practices, but he fit in well right away. That’s why we put him with guys who are comfortable. Both of those guys did an outstanding job today.

Andre Lee
On the team pulling together to earn the win
I think all the guys chipped in. We started off the game pretty well. I don’t know what we did in the second period. We kind of came out and thought it was going to be easy, and you can never do that because that’s going to bite you in the butt. I think we came out in the third as a team. We played for each other and had a lot of people blocking shots and getting pucks out [of the zone], and stuff like that.

On his shorthanded breakaway goal
I’ve kind of worked on this move in practices for the last few weeks so it was pretty clear in my head right when I got the puck that I was going to go low left side. Usually that’s where I like to shoot.

On Erik Portillo’s effort in net
He was great. He saved us a lot in the third there. I don’t think we helped him enough in the second period, but I think it was important for the team to come out in the third and get the job done, and he was one of the main guys. He helped us a lot today.

Alex Turcotte
On his first game since December 28
It felt pretty good. It didn’t feel like I had missed too much time. I’ve been through quite a bit already so I actually felt really good. I just had a lot of adrenaline and was excited to be back. I know the boys won last game so I just wanted to keep it going. It was a lot of fun.

On joining the team in the middle of the trip with Kevin Connauton
It’s been great to be back. We were back in El Segundo by ourselves for pretty much a week, just [skating] with Nate Thompson. It was good to have them to kind of go through it together and get back into shape and into the rhythm. We obviously missed playing a lot, and the games are the most fun part, so we were pretty pumped when we heard we were cleared to come play. I know we were getting pretty lonely there without the boys. It was weird not being around them every day, so we’re really happy to be here. 

Ontario will complete its lengthy five-game road trip in Abbotsford against the Canucks on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. inside the Abbotsford Centre.