The Ontario Reign (6-7-0-0) erased a two-goal deficit early in the third period, but a strike by Devante Stephens moments later pushed the Colorado Eagles (7-6-0-1) back in front for good on their way to a 6-4 win on Saturday at Blue Arena.
Ontario leaves Colorado with a split from a two-game series after Glenn Gawdin and Reilly Walsh each scored for a third straight game, Angus Booth netted his first professional goal and Jeff Malott added two assists.
It was an eventful first minute to open the contest, which included a fight between Luke Rowe and Stephens 16 seconds in. The Eagles took control of the game 20 seconds after the bout, however, when Tye Felhaber put Colorado up 1-0 with the lone goal of the first period.
Walsh countered for Ontario at 3:38 of the second, scoring on a delayed penalty with a shot from the point that made it to the top right corner of the net. Gawdin and Charles Hudon recorded assists on the goal, which evened the game at 1-1.
But the Eagles didn’t waste much time before they responded with a strike by Jake Wise at 5:17 of the second to get back in front 2-1. Colorado then increased their lead with two more tallies in the middle frame by Jacob MacDonald, who scored on the power play at 9:03, and Jack Ahcan who found the back of the net at 15:13.
Booth found a loose puck in the slot after a drive to the net by Malott and quickly wristed it by goaltender Kevin Mandolese to net his first career tally before the end of the middle frame and make it 4-2 at 18:13. The rookie defender’s strike also had a second assist from Rowe.
Ontario kept the pressure on early in the third and tied the game up after Gawdin and Shawn Element both scored in a 28-second span to even the score at 4-4. Gawdin’s goal came after Malott banked the puck off an Eagles’ player in the offensive zone at 3:29 of the final frame. The Reign’s leading scorer netted his sixth of the year on a wrist shot over Mandolese’s glove that also came with a second helper from Walsh.
Element tied the contest at 3:57 after Ontario won a few battles in the offensive end. Joe Hicketts made a play to keep the puck in the zone and Element did the rest, scoring his fourth tally of the season.
The Eagles went right back in front at 5:25 though, when Stephens scored what turned out to be the game winning goal on a back-door play at the side of the net off the rush.
The Reign had looks to tie things back up again, including a power play opportunity less than two minutes after Stephens’ strike, but they were unable to get back in the game.
Wise sealed the win for the home team with an empty-net goal for his second tally of the night at 19:25.
Colorado held a 31-26 shots on goal edge in the game and scored the lone power play goal of the night, finishing 1-for-2 on the man-advantage while Ontario was just 0-for-1.
Postgame reactions from Booth and head coach Marco Sturm below –
Angus Booth
On playing in Colorado
I think it gets really loud. Sometimes it easy to get caught up in the crowd and stuff. But I think we managed it well, especially in the third they were getting real loud with their madness atmosphere. We gave it to them in the third early.
On his first career goal
I feel like time was going so slow. I saw the puck. Jeff did a great job going around the D and throwing it in the middle. I felt like I had so much time, I probably didn’t, but I kind of panicked and just shot the puck. Just kept it simple and it went in. I got lucky.
On Lawrence also scoring his first goal this weekend
It’s really cool when we’re on the road we have a lot of time to go out and have dinner together. He’s usually one of the guys that I go and do stuff with, so it’s really cool to both get our first milestones here together. But he got the win in his game and I didn’t, so I think he has a one up on me there.
Marco Sturm
On his team’s play in the loss
We were right back in that game. Unfortunately, we got scored against there on a mistake from us. I give the guys a lot of credit to come back after three goals in the second period but unfortunately it didn’t happen. Overall, they were the better team today. They wanted it more than us today. We had too many passengers tonight.
On his takeaways of the team’s character this weekend
The best example was yesterday, just the way we played the game. Everyone was important and somehow we got it done. That’s how we have to approach every night. We talked about it, that they’re going to come out hard, and we were still half asleep. We weren’t ready. That’s something that we have to fix. But we’re glad we got one win out of it. I said it yesterday, it’s a tough place to play and to go home with one and one it’s not that bad.
On Angus Booth scoring his first goal
It was good. He’s not really an offensive defenseman, but he got in a good spot at the right time, and finished it very well. He was good. He tries really hard, and he’s been one of our better D.
On moving forward after the weekend split
At the end of the day we did a lot of good things this weekend. Guys were tired today. That’s why we made a lot of mistakes, especially for the young kids. It was something new here in Colorado, high altitude, but we did a lot of good things. We like to continue to get better at it and we just got to make sure we get better.
The Reign are back on the road next week for two more games, beginning Wednesday night in Henderson at 7 p.m. at Lee’s Family Forum before they head to San Diego for a Saturday night matchup with the Gulls at Pechanga Arena.
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