Late goals from Martin Chromiak and Joe Hicketts pushed the Ontario Reign (12-8-0-0) past the Bakersfield Condors (7-10-2-1) in come-from-behind fashion on Sunday afternoon, winning by a final score of 5-3 in front of their home fans at Toyota Arena.
Chromiak, Hicketts and forward Jeff Malott each had a goal and an assist for Ontario, while Charles Hudon led the way on the offensive end with two goals and an assist for his second three-point effort of the season.
Pheonix Copley picked up the win in between the pipes for the Reign, stopping 26 shots to record his fifth victory in his last six starts and improving his record to 7-4-0 on the year.
The two teams skated through a scoreless first period to begin the game, with each club putting seven shots at the opponent’s net. Ontario earned two power play opportunities in the first but weren’t able to convert on either against goaltender Collin Delia.
Noah Philp broke through for the Condors 46 seconds into the second to make it 1-0 in favor of the visitors.
Ontario evened things up with Hudon’s first of the day at 3:25, a power play goal on a shot from the right circle with assists credited to Samuel Fagemo and Reilly Walsh.
Hudon gave the Reign a 2-1 lead at 9:22 of the middle period with his eighth of the year to finish a perfect passing play in front of the Bakersfield net. The play started with Jeff Malott behind the goal, who used a centering feed to find Glenn Gawdin on the right circle. Gawdin quickly shuffled the puck to his left where Hudon was ready and waiting to put it into an open goal.
But the Condors tied the game back up at 2-2 late in the frame on a goal by Jacob Perreault at 17:39 and went ahead at 9:03 of the third on a tally from Phil Kemp during 4-on-4 play.
Ontario had a quick response, making it a 3-3 game less than two minutes later at 10:57 when Chromiak netted his fifth of the season with a quick wrist shot that beat Delia up high. He was set up on the rush by Walsh and his linemate, Francesco Pinelli.
The game remained tied until there were less than three minutes to play in the third, when Chromiak had another open look at the net that was stopped. Hicketts followed the play to the front of the net and put the rebound in for his first goal of the season to give Ontario a 4-3 lead at 17:35. As with Chromiak’s goal earlier in the period, Pinelli was also credited with the second assist on the play.
Bakersfield pulled Delia in favor of an extra attacker in an attempt to get back in the game during the final two minutes, but they were unable to convert and Jeff Malott salted away the win for the Reign with an empty-net goal at 19:47, his third tally of the season which had assists given to Hudon and Hicketts.
Hudon’s power play goal in the second was the lone man-advantage marker of the contest, with Ontario finishing 1-for-3 while only allowing the Condors a single look on the power play, which they were unable to score on.
Bakersfield had a 29-26 shots-on-net edge in the game, with Delia turning out 21 shots for the Condors in a losing effort.
Postgame reactions from Chromiak and head coach Marco Sturm are below –
Martin Chromiak
On the team’s comeback
Were talking a lot after the first and second period to stay patient and play until the end. Even when we were down, I think we stayed patient. We were creating chances, and luckily, it went in and we got the job done.
On his goal in the third period to tie the game
We talked about the play right before the face off, and it worked out perfectly. A lot of times we talk about a face off, about a plan, what are you going to do, what you want to do but not every time it works out. This time it worked out exactly how we wanted. It was planned.
On the game-winning goal by Hicketts
I think it was a great play by Frankie. He found me. I kind of had a two on one breakaway. I just tried to shoot on net and create a rebound. Guys went to the net and got the rebound and scored so it was a huge goal for us.
Marco Sturm
On his team’s comeback win
Give them credit. They stuck with it 60 minutes. We were down in the third and had a little bit of a lucky bounce. We came back and got a goal on top of it. So it’s even better. It was a good weekend overall. We had a good week of practice. The last two games were a short turnaround too, those back to back games Glad we pulled off both of them.
On having a full week off before the next game
There’s a lot going on. Obviously, it’s December, right? The guys have their own Christmas party tonight. We have our family Christmas party tomorrow. It’s way more fun when you’re on a winning streak. So good for them.
On Joe Hicketts scoring the game-winner
Everyone was cheering. We talked about it yesterday. How big he is for our team. Today he played kind of hurt. He was not 100% but he didn’t care and got us the winning goal. So just another Hicketts night. We’re glad he’s on our team.
On Martin Chromiak’s goal
A complete line effort I would say. It’s not just one guy, yes, Chromiak scored today, but seems like those three guys, Pinelli, Ward, and Chromiak. It started to click a little bit three or four games ago, and it kind of carried over the last weekend. They were probably better yesterday than today, but again, they got us a big goal. They’re fun to watch.
The Reign have a full week before their next scheduled game, which will be home at Toyota Arena against the San Jose Barracuda on Sunday, Dec. 15 beginning at 5 p.m.
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