REIGN FINAL – Reign 6, Barracuda 4 – Jamsen, Sturm

The Ontario Reign (30-14-2-1) scored three goals in the first and added three more in the second on their way to a 6-4 win over the San Jose Barracuda (25-18-2-3) at Tech CU Arena on Wednesday night. The victory gave the Reign 63 points in the standings and a share of first place in the Pacific Division as the first team in the Western Conference to win 30 games.

Charles Hudon assisted on four of his team’s goals, giving him his first-career four-assist night, while Aatu Jamsen scored twice to record his first-career multi-goal effort. Pheonix Copley stopped 32 shots for Ontario to earn his fifth straight win and improve his record to 15-7-0 this season.

BOX SCORE

The win completed a perfect three-game road swing for the Reign, which began with a sweep of Calgary earlier this week. It also improved their record away from home to 16-5-0-1 on the season which is the best mark of any Western Conference team.

Ontario came out flying in the first, putting 20 shots on goal and scoring three times to take a 3-0 lead in the first 20 minutes of action. The shot total was the most in a single road period for the team this season.

Martin Chromiak got the scoring started at 3:12 of the first, blasting a one-timer from the left circle past goaltender Yaroslav Askarov on the power play for his 10th goal of the season to make it 1-0. Assists on the play went to Hudon and Reilly Walsh.

Later in the frame, Jamsen capitalized on a turnover by the Cuda in their own zone and scored on a shot from the slot after Askarov had left the net to go play the puck. Jamsen’s fourth goal of the season came unassisted at 8:05 and put the Reign ahead 2-0.

Then less than two minutes later, Tyler Madden was left open on the right circle during Ontario’s second power play and Jack Studnicka got him the puck for a shot over the blocker of Askarov. Madden’s eighth goal of the year made it a 3-0 game at 9:50 of the first.

After Madden’s strike, Askarov left the game, and Gabriel Carriere entered the crease ofr San Jose.

Ontario extended its advantage to 4-0 just 40 seconds into the second period when Jamsen slipped home his second goal of the contest during a 5-on-3 power play from Hudon and Glenn Gawdin.

The Barracuda got on the board at 9:50 of the middle period when Andrew Poturalski found the back of the net on the power play to make it 4-1.

Moments later, Taylor Ward scored his ninth tally of the season on a lead pass from Samuel Helenius at 13:33 and the Reign led by a 5-1 score at 13:33 of the second. Hudon also recorded the second helper on the play for his third assist of the contest.

Jeff Malott scored for Ontario to make it 6-1 in the final minute of the middle frame, deflecting a shot by Luke Rowe to the back of the net for his 17th tally of the season at 19:09. Malott now has points in six straight games and has totaled 10 points on seven goals and three assists during the run, while Hudon, who also recorded the second assist on the strike for his fourth helper of the night, has a seven-game point scoring streak during which has included 13 points on three goals and 10 assists.

The Barracuda had control of the third period and were able to score three times to cut into the Reign’s lead but were ultimately unable to climb all the way back in the game. San Jose held a 18-4 edge in shots on goal during the final 20 minutes, which allowed them to out-shoot Ontario 36-35 overall in the contest.

Danil Gushchin scored first to make it a 6-2 game at 6:23 of the final frame and Tristen Robins added a power play goal at 10:56 to cut the lead to 6-3. Luca Cagnoni also netted a power play strike at 13:31, which ended as the final tally of the contest for either side.

San Jose pulled Carriere in exchange for an extra attacker during the final three minutes of action, but they weren’t able to put any additional pucks past Copley and the Reign hung on to secure the victory.

Both clubs ended at 3-for-6 on the power play in the game, while Askarov finished with 11 stops on 14 shots and Carriere turned out 18 of 21 attempts that came his way.

Postgame reactions from Jamsen and head coach Marco Sturm are below –

Aatu Jamsen

Marco Sturm

 

Ontario will be back home for another matchup against the Barracuda on Saturday night at Toyota Arena beginning at 6 p.m.