REIGN FINAL – ONT 3 , CV 4 (OT) – Lord, Ziemmer

 The Ontario Reign (38-16-3-2) fell to the Coachella Valley Firebirds (32-20-5-0) Saturday night in overtime by a final score of 4-3 in front of 9,409 fans at Toyota Arena. The Reign will host the Abbotsford Canucks on Wednesday at 6 p.m. PST.

The Reign fell for the third straight game but stretched their point-streak to 10 games in the loss. Andre Lee scored his team leading 24^th goal of the year while Koehn Ziemmer found the back of the net twice for goals eight and nine of the campaign. Jack Hughes collected an assist stretching his point streak to three games while Erik Portillo made 35 saves in the loss.

The score was tied up at 1-1 after the first period with the Firebirds holding the edge in shots 13-8 as each team failed to convert on early power-plays. Eduard Šalé gave Coachella Valley a 1-0 lead on a deflection in front of the net off a point shot from Tyson Jugnauth at 15:02. Just 47 seconds later Andre Lee (24^th) tied the game on a beautiful setup from Kenta Isogai. Down the right-wing wall Isogai muscled his way around the defender and fed Lee in the high slot where he beat Östman with a low wrist shot glove side.

It was a tie game at 2-2 through 40 minutes of play as each team got on the board in the second period with Coachella Valley outshooting Ontario 9-5. Lleyton Roed gave the Firebirds their second lead of the night when he sent a wrist shot from inside the right face-off dot far side past Portillo. With just 48 seconds left in the frame Koehn Ziemmer (8^th) tied the score from Francesco Pinelli and Angus Booth. Booth carried the puck down to the right corner and fed Pienlli at the half-wall. From there Pinelli snapped the puck to Ziemmer in the high slot where he guided the puck through the five-hole of Östman. Ontario went 0-for-2 on the power-play while Coachella Valley was 0-for-1.

Andrei Loshko gave the Firebirds a 3-2 lead with 6:03 to play sending a backhander from the the top of the crease over the glove of Portillo. Then 15 seconds later Koehn Ziemmer (9^th) tied the the score at 3-3 with his second of the night from Jack Hughes and Nikita Novikov. From the high slot Hughes twisted the puck down to Ziemmer in left corner where he twisted it past the far leg of Östman. Shots were 14-8 Firebirds in the final frame as overtime was needed for the second straight night.

Ty Nelson called game for Coachella Valley 73 seconds into the extra session sending a wrist shot into the top left corner from the high slot for the 4-3 victory.

Erik Portillo made 35 saves on 39 shots in the loss while Victor Östman collected the win making 18 saves on 21 shots. Ontario went 0-for-3 on the power-play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

BOX SCORE

Postgame thoughts from Andrew Lord and Koehn Ziemmer.

Lord
On his team’s performance
Every night’s a little bit different. Tonight, we just weren’t at the races. We looked exhausted. Didn’t play our game, turned the puck over far too much. Credit to them. They played really desperate all weekend. They have a great team. They’re mobile. They have four lines that can play. They’re obviously extremely well coached, and they took it to us at points. Portillo was obviously huge.

On staying positive
Loved us clawing our way back and finding a way to force overtime. I think that was excellent. I think we get rested up. We know what we’re doing. We got points in 10 straight games so it’s not all doom and gloom. At the same time, we do need to be better, and we will be.

Ziemmer
On the loss
I think it starts right from the start. I think we have to play a full sixty. I think that’s a big thing. Every point matters. I mean, all these games are like playoff games. We’ll take the one point, but three games in a row with only getting one is not enough.

On tonight’s playoff feel
I think we have to treat it like a playoff game. I think we have to be able to prepare ourselves for when it really matters. I think every game’s getting tougher and tougher this time of year.

On the Firebirds’ game
They’re a good team. They’re fast. They’re connected. Their transition game is really good. They’re a good team, and we knew that playing them back to back. They’re hard to play against.