A late goal by Jan Myšák broke a deadlock late in the third period and sent the San Diego Gulls (23-25-5-3) past the Ontario Reign (31-19-3-1) by a 5-3 score at Pechanga Arena on Saturday night.
Luke Rowe factored into two of the three Reign goals, scoring one and assisting on another, while Jeff Malott and Jack Studnicka also found the back of the net for Ontario in the loss.
Ville Husso earned the win between the pipes for San Diego with 27 saves, while Dryden McKay suffered a defeat in his debut with Ontario despite 32 stops.
It didn’t take long for the Reign to grab an early lead, as Rowe scored his second goal of the season 1:19 into the opening frame, putting Ontario on top 1-0 with a shot from the right point that got through traffic and bested Husso. Forwards Charles Hudon and Francesco Pinelli picked up assists on the first tally of the game.
The Reign extended their advantage to 2-0 later in the first when Jeff Malott converted off a 3-on-1 rush into the SD end, wristing a shot from the left circle past Husso at 16:47. Malott’s linemates Samuel Fagemo and Glenn Gawdin both earned assists on the strike.
Ontario held its lead until the final five minutes of the second period when San Diego’s offense sprung to life, scoring three times to take a 3-2 advantage after 40 minutes.
Justin Bailey got the Gulls on the board when he converted on a penalty shot that was awarded to him at 15:49 of the middle frame, making it a 2-1 game. Then, Judd Caulfield tied things up at 16:36 before Nikita Nesterenko gave San Diego the lead with a goal during 4-on-4 play in the final minute of the period at 19:33.
Studnicka got the Reign back in the game, 3-3, with his 14th goal of the season at 7:53 of the third. The tying tally came on a wrist shot off a rush into the Gulls’ zone that sailed past the glove of Husso and inside the right post. Assists on the play went to both Rowe and Taylor Ward.
But that was all the offense the Reign were able to muster in the contest. Myšák’s response put San Diego back in front by a 4-3 score at 15:03 of the third before an empty-net strike by Nathan Gaucher sealed the win for the home side.
Neither team was able to score on the power play, as each team only earned one man-advantage opportunity. With 19 shots coming in the second period alone, the Gulls controlled the attempts on net by a 37-30 margin overall.
Postgame reactions from Rowe and head coach Marco Sturm are below –
Luke Rowe
On the way the team can refocus after a string of losses
It stings. It really stings. We played 45 good minutes of hockey and we don’t play well the other 15 and it doesn’t go our way. We have a good leadership group, guys are experience and we know that we’ll right this ship but it’s just going to take doing it. Enough of kind of feeling sorry for ourselves, we just need to do it and our older guys are taking the lead and the younger guys need to follow.
On the way Dryden McKay played in his first start for the Reign
I thought he was really good. A couple plays there where, what is a goalie supposed to do what that? But he made some big saves in some big moments and they had a lot of shots on net so we didn’t help him too much in his first game but he played really well. He should be proud of himself.
On what it felt like to score early and get his team the lead
It felt good. It was a good start. I felt good at the start of the game and I don’t know, pretty lucky honestly, I didn’t even see how it went in but I was excited and tried to use the momentum and go from there.
On playing against San Diego in a rivalry series
They work really hard. Their forecheck is hard, they’re going to work and whether people consider San Diego or Coachella our biggest rivals, I think it’s a rivalry game and they’re always going to be close. They’re going to be hard fought and that’s just what it was tonight.
Marco Sturm
On it not being a 60-minute effort from his team
Yeah we got in trouble, again, it was more about us, yes they did play better in the second period but we took some penalties, bad decisions, we didn’t handle the puck really well and all of a sudden they got life. It’s a talented group, we’ll give them that. As soon as you give them life and as soon as you give them hope they turn things around and they did it twice in a row against us. We didn’t have an answer. We should’ve gotten another point today and we didn’t because of another mistake so end of the day, we didn’t deserve anything better. It’s a tough time right now but I really think it’s going to help us in the future. You’ve got to go through weeks and games like that and now it’s gut time and we’ve got to figure things out and get back on track.
On McKay’s play in the game
He was excellent. I always had a good feeling that he’s going to have a good game today and he did. This guy today, he gives us a chance to win a game and we just let him hang in there for a little bit so good for him. He got my trust, I think he got the trust from the guys and we just have to play better for him.
On the way the team has started well of late after struggling earlier in the season
If you look at all the games we were losing, we played our best game in the first period because guys are dialed in. Guys are taking care of the puck, they played with detail and structure. They’re just not patient enough sometimes and that’s what happened today. As long as you do that, you’re not going to win at all so we’ve got to make sure we’re going to do that for 60.
On Andre Lee signing a 2-year contract with the Kings earlier today
I think that shows it all. Andre has made some big strides over the years since I’ve been here and it doesn’t matter if it’s with us or the Kings, he’s done a really good job and I think there’s still some room to grow and I think they know it, we know it, he knows it and I’m really happy for him that he’s got an extension because he’s one of the better ones. He’s a good kid, does a lot of things right and that’s what coaches want.
The Reign travel to Tucson this week for two games against the Roadrunners at Tucson Arena beginning Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. PT.
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