A goal and an assist from captain TJ Tynan and 23 saves by Erik Portillo sent the Ontario Reign (3-0) past the Abbotsford Canucks (2-2) on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Pacific Division Semifinals at Toyota Arena.
The Reign now hold a 1-0 lead in the best-of-5 series, which continues with Game 2 on Sunday afternoon. Other Ontario goals in the contest were scored by forwards Alex Turcotte and Nikita Pavlychev, who each had their first-career playoff tallies.
After a scoreless first period, Tynan broke the game open with his first strike of the playoffs by deflecting a shot by Wyatte Wylie past goaltender Zach Sawchenko at 12:05 of the second.
Turcotte extended the lead at 4:55 of the third, knocking a rebound into the net to make it 2-0. Tynan started the play in the offensive zone by feeding puck to Samuel Fagemo, who was open in the slot. Fagemo quickly took a shot that hit the left post and the rebound settled down for Turcotte, who slipped it into the goal.
Max Sasson got Abbotsford on the board three minutes later at 8:15 with an unassisted goal to cut Ontario’s lead back down to a single goal at 2-1.
But Pavlychev responded at 11:29, scoring off a rebound on a shot by Kim Nousiainen to make it a 3-1 game.
Portillo and the team’s defense was able to hold the Canucks off the board for the remainder of the night, despite being outshot 24-21. Neither team was able to convert on the power play in the contest, with Abbotsford going 0-for-2 and the Reign ending at 0-for-4.
Sawchenko turned out 18 shots for the Canucks in a losing effort.
Marco Sturm
On the team’s confidence that they’d pull out the win
The whole bench was like “we’re okay.” Two or three months ago, it wouldn’t be that way. Everyone stayed really calm. Everyone knew we played a really good game and its about details and little mistakes, and they probably had a few more than us today. Other than that, it was pretty even and that’s how we’re going to approach the next game.
On playing physical and neutralizing the opponent
We probably took one or two too many penalties today but overall we played physical and that’s exactly what we wanted. Some teams can handle it, some teams cant, and we feel like this [opponent] struggles with it. That showed again today. [That line] scored the game-winning goal, so that’s even better. There are other things in our game too that we just have to be very alert about because their strength. We didn’t give up much through the neutral zone and it was a good start.
On how the team continues to find ways to win
In the last two months we’ve really come together. [The players] really understand how to play the game in certain situations. That’s kind of my thing [as a coach] too. I’m big on that, on how to manage the game and manage the puck in certain situations. I feel like it’s paying off now and the guys are buying in.
On tonight’s strong showing from Joe Hicketts and Brandt Clarke
I think I expect a lot out of them but they played tremendous today. Joe is Joe. He’s a battler and a warrior. He does everything right. He plays hard. I thought, for Clarke, it was one of his best games. We was so calm. He never got in trouble. He made the right decisions at the right times and made good passes. Defensively, he reminded me of Drew Doughty. It was a really good game for both of them..
On tonight’s game and having continued success in the second period
I think we had a pretty good start. We were really intense out there and playing really physical, so I think we were ready to go. Obviously you want to get one right away and it took a little bit. I think we played really physical and fast and got on them right away and let them know its going to be a tough series. I think we’ve been having good starts and putting teams in a tough position, and I think it wears them down. It would be great to score right away and score first, but I think we’ve been pretty consistent and that’s why we’re getting success in the second and third periods.
Alex Turcotte
On scoring his first career playoff goal
It was great. Tynes made a great play to Sammy and I kind of smoke screened the goalie a little bit there. It hit off the post and luckily the goalie didn’t see that it went right to me. They made a great play and I was just trying to stick around the net. That’s a big emphasis that we’ve had going into this series by getting a lot of goals around the net and traffic. I think we had three like that today that were right around there because of screens and rebounds. We’ve got to keep playing like that.
On going on another run with Madden, Fagemo and Thomas
It’s been a lot of fun. We all came in together. We’re all way better players now. We’ve gotten a lot more experience and we have great chemistry. We’re all really tight off the ice and I think that goes a long way. Obviously, we’ve had some regular season success in previous years but nothing in the playoffs. I think we just want to take advantage of this opportunity and our team. We’ve got a really deep team and we feel like we can go really far and make a run.
On what it will take to have postseason success
We just have a lot more confidence in our game. I think we’ve all just naturally gotten a lot better and stronger. All the cliché’s, really, but I think we’re really confident. We try to take the game over and not let it come to us. We want to assert ourselves right away, and we know we can be difference makers. A few of us have gotten experience in the NHL too and that goes a long way. It’s been a lot of fun and we’re trying to make the most of it.
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