REIGN FINAL – ONT 4, SD 6 – Lord and Chromiak

Storyline: The Ontario Reign (6-4-1-0) fell to the San Diego Gulls (4-4-2-0) Friday night by a final score of 6-4 in front of 7,289 fans at Pechanga Arena. The Reign will host the Gulls Saturday night at Toyota Arena for a 6 p.m. puck-drop.

Martin Chromiak tied a career high notching four points on two goals and two assists as the Reign produced a season high 45 shots in the losing effort. San Diego potted two short-handed goals, and a four-on-four tally as well. Ontario trailed 3-1 going into a third period that saw six goals, three for each team. Every goal the Gulls scored in the third period the Reign had answered back with quick scores of their own.

Despite putting up a season high 16 shots in the first period the Reign trailed 1-0 after the opening 20 minutes. Judd Caufield gave the Gulls the lead with a short-handed goal at 15:28 from Tim Washe. Washe knifed the puck away at his own blue line and on a breakaway Caufield put the puck through the legs of Copley who made 12 saves in the frame.

The Gulls held a 3-1 lead through 40 minutes of play with shots favoring the Reign 14-10 in the second period. San Diego took a 2-0 lead when Nico Myatovic tallied the second short-handed score of the night 4:04 into the stanza with a wrist shot from above the high slot beating Copley far side. On the sixth power-play of the night the Reign finally got on the board with Martin Chromiak (4^th) tallying his team leading third on the man advantage from Akil Thomas and Aätu Jamsen at 11:53. At the left side of his own blue line Jamsen fed Thomas up the left-wing side. Thomas got into the offensive zone and fed Chromiak down the center lane. From the high slot Chromiak fired a wrister into the top left corner. The Gulls recaptured a two-goal advantage when Nathan Gaucher sent a shot from inside the right circle through the legs of Copley 3:21 later.

Tim Washe handed the Gulls a 4-1 lead at 7:45 of the third period sending a wrist shot from the left wing into the top left corner. Kenny Connors (2^nd) cut deficit back down to a pair finding the back of the net 53 seconds later from Chromiak and Joe Hicketts. In the left corner Chromiak found Connors streaking down the high slot after just getting onto the ice. Once he received the puck, he sent a low wrist shot short side on Husso from a top of the left circle. Justin Bailey put the Gulls back out in front by three making it 5-2just 59 seconds later at 9:37 when he intercepted the puck at his own blue line and slid the puck past the left leg of Copley on a breakaway. Joe Hicketts (2^nd) buried a four-on-three power-play goal just 1:19 later at 10:56 from Chromiak and Thomas pulling the Reign back within two. Hicketts got the puck in the high slot and fired a slapshot bar down. Tim Washe buried his second of the period with a wrist shot from the left circle far side on Copley with 4:26 remaining in the contest making it 6-3. Chromiak (5^th) got his second of the game just 18 seconds later unassisted when he capitalized on a turnover in the left circle and cut to the far side of the crease. From there he sent a shot over the glove of Husso making it 6-4. The Reign would outshoot the Gulls 15-9 in the final 20 minutes of play but would fall by a final score of 6-4.

BOX SCORE

Postgame thoughts from Andrew Lord and Martin Chromiak.

Lord
Overall thoughts.
Frustrating. One, obviously, you know, we had a lot of good minutes. Generated more than enough chances. You know, give their goalie credit. Give their team credit. Obviously, two shorthanded goals really hurt us. The four-on-four goal late to maybe not put the game away, but put us back three goals down, was a big one there by one of their better players. And yeah, I mean, I like that. We kept fighting, made it interesting all the way to the end. Ultimately, the big plays against us what killed us tonight.

Giving up two shorthanded goals.
Yeah, multitude of reasons. Obviously, you know, we have some sets. We have some ways to break pressure. Definitely some misreads there. And then, you know, the first one, we had a puck on our stick, and unfortunately, we got a breakaway out of it. But yeah, it is what it is. Need to be better there, for sure, and we will be tomorrow.

Start to the game.
Yeah, that was pretty good. Obviously, we were on the power play a few, few times. I got the shots always up, but yeah, we were moving our feet. Although we’re playing north, we thought we got the puck below their goal line. We were pretty direct overall. And yeah, I liked it. Give them credit. Their goalie was good, for sure. Speaking of the power play, getting more shots through.

On changing up the forward lines.
I didn’t mind the lions before. I think they just got a little stale. Our five-on-five games been decent, not generating quite enough. We thought a little shake up would be, would be good. And I thought, you know, for the most part, everything was flowing pretty good there. So, yeah, Chromiak was really moving his feet tonight. He was competing. He’s a little more physical, willing to win races. Get to the net front, obviously, really nice shot there on the one. And yeah, it was a good night for him.

Chromiak