Two goals in a span of 1:02 during the second period gave the Coachella Valley Firebirds (4-1) a lead they never surrendered in a 3-2 decision against the Ontario Reign (5-1) from Game 1 of the Pacific Division Finals on Wednesday night at Acrisure Arena.
Ontario held Coachella Valley to just 15 shots in the contest, the lowest single game total in the team’s brief two-year AHL existence. Reign goals in a losing effort came from forwards Andre Lee and Samuel Fagemo.
Ontario got out to an early lead at just 4:24 into the first period on Lee’s fourth goal of the postseason. Set up by Taylor Ward who won a battle in the offensive zone before flipping the puck to Lee on the inside of the left circle, the Swedish forward made it 1-0 with the first strike of the series on a wrist shot that flew past Firebirds’ goaltender Chris Driedger’s glove. Samuel Helenius picked up his first-career postseason point with the second assist on the play.
Coachella Valley responded later in the period, scoring twice in a span of 1:02 to take a 2-1 lead at the game’s first intermission. First, Max McCormick tied the game at 14:37 with a shot from the slot that got deflected on its way to the net and glanced off Erik Portillo’s glove and in. Moments later, Devin Shore got credit for the Firebirds second goal by deflecting a shot from Connor Carrick past Portillo at 15:39.
Blueliner Jimmy Schudt extended Coachella Valley’s advantage to 3-1 with a goal at 7:59 of the second period off a shot from the right point, his first tally of the postseason for the Firebirds.
Ontario held the home team off the scoreboard for the remainder of the contest, but they were unable to overcome the two-goal deficit.
Fagemo did cut the lead back to one with his first power play goal of the postseason 24 seconds into the third, making it a 3-2 game with assists from TJ Tynan and Akil Thomas.
After the goal, which came on the Reign’s first shot of the third, Ontario went on to out-shoot Coachella Valley 13-4 in the final frame but were unable to get any other opportunities past Driedger.
Fagemo’s strike was also the lone man-advantage goal of the game. Ontario finished 1-for-3 on the power play, while holding Coachella Valley to an 0-for-2 mark. The overall shot counts finished 31-15 in favor of the Reign.
Driedger ended the contest with 29 saves to earn his fourth victory of the postseason, while Portillo suffered his first loss after stopping 12 Firebirds attempts.
Marco Sturm
On the team’s first loss of the postseason
It was just two or three mistakes. Overall, we probably played a solid game. It’s playoff time, and the guys need to realize that every shift is important. On those kinds of shifts, you’re going to make mistakes. If you’re not ready, especially off the faceoff right away, then it’s going to end up in your net. Unfortunately, there were one too many mistakes today but we’re playing probably one of the best teams in the league and in their building. They ended up with 15 shots or something, that was pretty good. It’s a little frustrating because we played good enough.
On the mistakes late in the first period that led to two goals
At the end of the day you’ve just got to focus on your job. Why do we have trouble in the last two minutes? We were trying to do someone else’s job. You’ve got to stay calm in those kinds of moments, especially our veterans who were on the ice. Just stay calm and do your job, that’s all you have to do. When you do that, you will be fine. We started to scramble a little bit and that minute or two cost us the hockey game. Those are the times in the game that we have to realize are important.
On the Lee-Helenius-Ward line
That whole line was our best line tonight. Why? Because they kept it simple. They were ready. They played behind the defense, they forechecked, and they crashed the net. There were not too many times where they were kept in the D-zone. It was definitely one of the better games I’ve seen from that line.
On bouncing back from the team’s first loss
If you want to win it all, you’re going to lose at one point. We were good enough to not lose a game yet, but today is one of them, and that’s okay. Again, we played good enough to win this hockey game today. We didn’t give them much. Again, those little mistakes cost us but we’re going to try to fix it and try to see what we can do better and get ready again for a big Game 2.
On Erik Portillo responding in Game 2
I know he’s not going to be happy today, and that’s fine. He’s one of those guys and one of those kids who has to learn. He also has to learn to respond. I will talk to him tomorrow. He’s been outstanding all year long, so there’s nothing to panic and worry about. He’s just got to focus on his game again and when he does that, I know he’s going to give us a good one.
Andre Lee
On scoring his fourth goal of the playoffs early in the first period
It was important, but more important for the team. To get the first goal is obviously always good. We’ve just got to make sure that we keep going on Friday. [The goal] was a confidence booster for me and it felt good to get that one in.
On tonight’s Game 1 loss
I think we had our ups and downs during the game. When we had our downs, they dominated the game. I think when we had our ups, we were good. If we can bring that for 60 minutes on Friday we’ll play a really good game.
On how Marco Sturm kept the team composed during the game
He said to stay composed and play our game, the normal stuff. We know they’re a fast transition team so we’ve just got to be ready when they come attack us. I think compared to the other games, it was the same. We tried to not panic as much as we had done earlier in the season and stay calm as long as possible. We just needed to do our systems better. We didn’t make any major changes. I just believe if we do the right thing and if we do it how we want to do it, they’re going to have a tough time out there.
On playing with Samuel Helenius and Taylor Ward
We know what to expect from each other. I think that goes for our whole team. I feel like the whole team’s chemistry is really good right now. Everyone knows what to expect from each other. We do it for each other. Our line has found a good chemistry and we just try to play our roles and help the team as much as we can.
On bouncing back in Game 2
It’s an important game. We know that. We’re going to take tomorrow to rest and then get back at it Friday. Obviously its an important game and we’ve got to come out more than ready.
The two teams are back in action for Game 2 on Friday night at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. The best-of-5 series will then shift back to Ontario on Sunday with Game 3 also scheduled for 7 p.m. inside Toyota Arena.
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