REIGN FINAL – ONT 3 , CV 2 – Lord, Hicketts, Guttman

The Ontario Reign (19-10-1-1) defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds (16-11-4-0) Saturday night by a final score of 3-2 in front of 8,647 fans at Toyota Arena. The Reign will host the Iowa Wild Sunday, Jan. 4 at 3 p.m. (PST).

Ontario trailed 2-1 heading into the third period before Cole Guttmann tied the game 5:54 into the final 20 minutes and Kirill Kirsanov scored with 5:05 to play to help the Reign complete their second come from behind victory in their last three games heading into the third period trailing. Glenn Gawdin increased his point streak to 10-games with an assist while Nikita Alexandrov stretched his point streak to seven-games in his 200^thcareer AHL contest. Andre Lee tallied his team leading 14^th goal of the year and sixth on the power-play.

The score was tied at 1-1 through 20 minutes of play. Ian McKinnon put the Firebirds out in front 2:46 into the contest and then the Reign went on the power-play 2:09 later. 65 seconds into the power-play Andre Lee (14^th) provided the equalizer from Cole Guttman and Glenn Gawdin. At the Reign blue line Gawdin dropped the puck back for Guttman who danced around a Firebirds defender at the blue line and broke free to the net. Victor Östman made the stop but Lee crashed the net and fired home the puck from the inner hash marks. Shots were 9-6 Ontario as they went 1-for-1 on the power-play and penalty kill.

Ontario trailed 2-1 through 40 minutes of play as Jakov Novak put the Firebirds on the board at 9:40 of the second period. The Reign were outshot 11-5 while they went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and 0-for-1 on the power-play.

The Reign’s comeback started when Cole Guttman (8^th) tied the game at 2-2 from Taylor Ward and Francesco Pinelli 5:54 into the third period. Pinelli from behind the net swept the puck to the right hash marks for Ward. From there he fed Guttman in the high slot where he beat Östman with a low shot. With just 5:05 remaining Kirill Kirsanov (4^th) provided the game winning score on a pretty passing play setup by Martin Chromiak and Nikita Alexandrov. Alexandrov drove the puck across the blue line and kicked it out to the right wall for Chromiak where he found Kirsanov driving the net for a redirection into the net from the top of the crease. Ontario outshot Coachella Valley 11-4 in the final 20 minutes.

Pheonix Copley picked up his eighth win of the season making 19 saves on 21 shots while Victor Östman lost his third straight game making 22 saves on 25 shots. The Reign went 1-for-4 on the power-play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

BOX SCORE

Postgame thoughts from Andrew Lord, Joe Hicketts, and Cole Guttman.

Lord
On the depth of this team
Maybe we don’t have the total elite offensive player, but I think we have a number of really good two way guys. And you know, we have a lot of options at our disposal for line combinations, which you saw in the third. We were able to adjust. I think that gives us a couple of different options depending on what the other teams lines look like, and how they’re playing and how we’re playing. We’ve got some good depth.

On playing two new opponents this weekend
It’s been fun, mixing it up against some different teams. Obviously, we kind of had San Jose there for a bunch of games, and this has been, you know, pretty quick to go just a couple days from the midweek there to this one to get prepared for two teams. But I think the guys have done a good job of retaining the information and applying it. And now we got our work ahead of us here real quick with it, with a three o’clock tomorrow.

Hicketts
On what tonight’s win showed about the team
A lot of character. We’re a good team when we bear down. We played really well in the third, allowed just 4 shots. And if you’re going to do that, you’ll end up on the right side of the scoreboard most nights. So now we just got to learn to do that for 60 minutes. We let off the gas there in the second and found ourselves down going into the third once again, but again, we were able to claw our way back and win it in regulation, which is huge.

On Cole Guttman on and off the ice
He’s a quiet leader. He’s been around, his fifth year. Not that he’s a veteran by any standards in AHL hockey, but he brings that poise like a veteran would. I played against him when he was in Rockford and I was out in the Central Division, so I know what he can do. He’s really good at showing young guys little tricks and learning how to evade defenseman. Obviously, as a smaller guy, he battles and competes, and I think that’s all we want. Want battlers. We want guys who compete and then he’s putting the puck in the net right now. And when you’re hot, you’re hot, and hopefully it stays that way.

 Guttman

On his game
Just trying to stick to my game. Puck wasn’t going in a bit at the start, and a couple bounces here and there. But just stick to what I know, stick to my game and I’m playing with some great players.

On Joe Hicketts returning
He’s huge for us. We follow him. He’s our leader. On the ice and off the ice, super vocal, gives energy to the guys, and we follow his lead.