The Ontario Reign (22-10-1-1) defeated the Henderson Silver Knights (16-12-3-1) Friday night by a final score of 5-4 in a shootout in front of 9,361 fans at Toyota Arena. The Reign will play their next six games on the road beginning Sunday, January 11th in Bakersfield at 4 p.m. (PST).
The Reign picked up their fourth straight win wrapping up a five-game homestand moving into sole possession of first place in the AHL’s Pacific Division. Jacob Doty scored his first goal of the season while Koehn Ziemmer and Aatu Jämsen each scored on the power-play as Ontario has struck on the man advantage in five straight games, while they also finished with an assist. Jack Hughes notched two helpers for his first career multi-point contest. Otto Salin scored with 4:29 remaining tying the score at 4-4 to force extra hockey. Erik Portillo stopped all three shootout attempts by Henderson while Kenny Connors scored in the shootout frame.
Ontario trailed 2-1 after the first period as Henderson also held a 16-5 shot advantage. Koehn Ziemmer (3rd) gave the Reign a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal from Kenny Connors and Nikita Alexandrov. From behind the net Connors fed Ziemmer below the right circle where he snuck a wrist shot low past the near leg of Jesper Vikman. Just 1:50 later Mitch McLain provided the equalizer for the Silver Knights when Erik Portillo tried to play the puck forward from the crease that directed a few feet in front of him off his own teammate and into the net. Jaycob Megna gave the Silver Knights a 2-1 lead with 88 seconds left in the period cashing in on a rebound in the left circle off an initial point shot from Jeremy Davies. Ontario went 1-for-1 on the power-play and penalty kill in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Reign scored twice in the second period taking a 3-2 lead into the second intermission. Jacob Doty (1st) tied the score at 2-2 from Keaton Mastrodonato and Jack Hughes at 11:55. From the right wall Hughes spun the puck to Mastrodonato in the right circle. Mastrodonato threw the puck to the net and Doty came in crashing from the left crease poking the puck home in a sliding effort. With 13 seconds left on their third power-play of the nigh Aatu Jämsen (1st) was setup by Hughes and Francesco Pinelli giving the Reign a 3-2 advantage with 5:32 left in the frame. From the left corner Hughes fed Jämsen at the right face-off dot where he beat Vikman with a low wrist shot short side. Shots were 8-6 Ontario in the frame as they went 1-for-2 on the power-play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
The Silver Knights took the lead back in the third period as Sloan Stanick tied the game 5:19 into the frame and then Mitch McLain grabbed his second of the night making it 4-3 with 7:24 to play before Otto Salin (2nd) tied the game back up from Ziemmer at Jämsen just 2:55 later. Behind the net Jämsen fed Ziemmer at the left wing where he zipped the puck to the top of the crease where Salin directed it up into the top right corner making it 4-4 with 4:29 to play.
After a scoreless overtime frame Erik Portillo stopped all three Henderson shootout attempts while Kenny Connors scored as Ontario’s second shooter securing the 5-4 win.
Erik Portillo made 29 saves on 33 shots for his sixth straight win while Jesper Vikman suffered the loss making 14 saves on 18 shots. The Reign went 2-for-5 on the power-play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Postgame thoughts from Andrew Lord, Jacob Doty, and Koehn Ziemmer.
Lord
On tonight’s win
Lots going on in that game. Felt like a couple of games put all together, but resilient win. Really proud of the guys. We got some guys out of the lineup, and it was great to see other guys get more minutes and step up in some situations, come away with some big goals and find a way to beat a really good hockey team. So good night overall.
On the power play success
It’s been huge. Huge tonight, honestly, one of the biggest, maybe the biggest factor of the game. I think the process has been there all year. Brad Schuler, he does a tremendous job with it. The guys have found some chemistry. And the fortunate thing on top of that is we plugged and played a little bit the last couple games, trying to keep units the same, but other guys popping in and, you know, they hung in there and did the job.
Doty
On the team’s effort
I think that was a full team effort from us, especially short handed. Need everybody pulling on the rope. And we got that tonight. Got some big contributions. So take the win and move on.
On the team’s depth
I think that’s a huge strength of our team, our depth. We know, no matter who’s in, who’s out, hurt, up, we’re gonna find a way on most nights. I think we take a lot of pride in that and it’s a huge strength for our team.
Ziemmer
On the five forward power play unit
Obviously those are some skilled players on there. Just try to get to the right spots. The chemistry clicks. It’s been clicking pretty much all year. So glad to be on it and be able to contribute there
On the team never giving up
I think it goes back to character. We’ve had a lot of injuries this year, guys getting called up, which is good thing, just being able to adapt to a different role every night.
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