REIGN FINAL – Reign 4, Roadruners 2 – Gawdin, Sturm

Jeff Malott scored two goals and added an assist to help the Ontario Reign (32-19-3-1) to a 4-2 win over the Tucson Roadrunners (27-24-3-2) on Tuesday night at Tucson Arena.

Ontario improved to 3-0-0 in Tucson this season and are now 5-1-0 against the Roadrunners overall. Goaltender Pheonix Copley made the start and turned out 23 shots to record the win.

BOX SCORE

Curtis Douglas struck first for Tucson during a delayed penalty situation at 6:25 of the opening period to give the Roadrunners an early 1-0 advantage.

The Reign got even at 13:28 of the opening period when Jeff Malott hit Glenn Gawdin for a quick release wrist shot that beat netminder Matt Villalta to make it 1-1.

But Tucson took their lead back with less than two minutes remaining in the first when Sam Lipkin converted on an open opportunity at 18:16 to send the Roadrunners into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.

Malott netted his first of the night at 9:07 of the second, tying the game up at 2-2. His strike came off the rush and a feed by Samuel Fagemo, who knocked the puck out of the air to get control in neutral ice before feeding Malott at the center of the Tucson zone. Malott then snapped a wrist shot past Villalta for his 19th of the campaign.

1:11 later, the Reign took the lead when Luke Rowe found the back of the net for the second straight contest at 10:18 by blasting a shot through from the center of the point in the offensive end. Francesco Pinelli extended his point streak to three games with an assist on Rowe’s goal, while forward Quinn Olson, who played his first AHL game of the 2024-25 season, captured the primary helper on the play.

Copley did not allow any other opportunities by him for the remainder of the contest, turning out all seven shots the Roadrunners put on net during the third.

Ontario got some extra insurance with less than three minutes to go in the final frame when Malott struck for the second time, scoring his 20th goal of the year on the power play from Fagemo and Caleb Jones at 17:06. Malott has now had 20 or more tallies in four consecutive AHL campaigns.

The final goal was the lone power play tally of the game, with the Reign ending at 1-for-5 on the man-advantage while holding Tucson to an 0-for-4 mark. Villalta made 29 saves for the Roadrunners in a losing effort, who were outshot in the game by a 33-25 margin.

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

Glenn Gawdin

Marco Sturm

The Reign and Roadrunners wrap up this week’s series on Wednesday night inside Tucson Arena at 6:30 p.m. PT.