The Ontario Reign (37-22-3-1) limited the Colorado Eagles (38-17-5-3) to just 18 shots and held on for a 2-1 victory with two successful penalty kills in the final minutes at Toyota Arena on Saturday night.
Pheonix Copley stopped 17 shots in between the pipes to earn his 21st win of the season, while Samuel Fagemo and Glenn Gawdin provided the offense for Ontario who remains in second place in the Pacific Division standings.
The Reign struck first late in the first period when Jack Studnicka used a spin move on a 2-on-1 rush to get the puck to Fagemo, who converted a sharp angle shot to put Ontario ahead 1-0 at 18:06. Fagemo’s team-leading 26th goal of the year also came with a secondary assist by Jack Millar.
Gawdin added to the lead at 14:50 of the second with his 22nd strike of the season, giving the Reign a 2-0 edge after 40 minutes. The second tally of the game also came on a 2-on-1 opportunity, which saw Martin Chromiak put an initial shot on net that deflected off goaltender Trent Minor’s glove and remained loose in the crease. Gawdin crashed the net and knocked the rebound into the open goal. Charles Hudon recorded the second helper on the play for his team-high 37th assist and 56th point of the season.
The Eagles cut the lead in half at 9:27 of the third when Matthew Phillips converted on a power play opportunity to make it a 2-1 game but Colorado was unable to even the score in the final minutes of action.
Phillips’ goal was the visitors’ first shot on goal of the third, a period that only produced four chances on net. Ontario continued its standout defensive play in the last five minutes during two late penalty kills and out-shot the Eagles 32-18 overall in the game.
The power play goal in the third was also the only tally on specialty teams in the contest, with Colorado finishing 1-for-6 on the power play while the Reign were 0-for-3. Miner stopped 30 shots for the Eagles in a losing effort.
Postgame reactions from defender Joseph Cecconi and head coach Marco Sturm are below –
Joseph Cecconi
On beating Colorado
That was big for our team. That’s a win that builds confidence going into playoffs. I think we did a great job at the end there locking everything down. Took a few penalties, but the PK showed that we can get it done.
On playing well defensively
Just deny their speed, shut them down, get good stands, kind of the basic stuff. They’re a skilled group over there, so we kind of just want to shut them down. They only got one on us tonight, which was a little lucky I thought. So tomorrow, just same game plan and go from there.
On the physicality and chippiness of the game
I think we do better when we’re in the fight. When we’re in those scrums. I think for us getting there a little bit more. We got some big bodies. We got some tough guys. We have a lot of team toughness. So just want to continue with that and let the big dogs on our team go to work.
On Pheonix Copley’s play
It’s fun. I played in front of a lot of goalies over the last however many years. Cops is a great goaltender, great guy, veteran, great communicator. It’s nice knowing we have a rock back there to make everything a little bit easier on us.
Marco Sturm
On the way his team played in the win
Structure wise it was really good. One of the better games today. We changed a few things, but it worked out, and the guys did a hell of a job. I think everyone was very disappointed in the way we played last game. We wanted to have a big response today and they did.
On Ontario’s special teams play
That’s what we talked about before the game that we want to play them five on five. We didn’t give up much. We’re going to give up life when we are on the PK obviously and they’re on the power play. They have a really good power play. There were way too many unnecessary penalties today. Overall, a really good job today but it’s not going to work every night, so we just have to make sure we stay out of the box.
On the play of the fourth line
They played more of the better games I’ve seen all year. Starting with Lawrence in the middle and the other two guys did a great job overall. That’s what we need. I think in the last few years we were very spoiled, always having a good fourth line. This year, it seems like they had a little bit of trouble but I like what I saw today.
On what the difference was for Ontario in the win
There’s no single player. I think that the team stepped up. The way they played five on five. The way we wanted them to play, talking in the pre scout. Our game plan and they just executed really well. So for me, it’s the team who won the game.
The Reign and Eagles go at it again on Sunday afternoon in the weekend series finale at 3 p.m. inside Toyota Arena.
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