REIGN FINAL – ONT 4, CV 1 – Lord, Slukynsky

Storyline: The Ontario Reign (45-19-3-2) defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds (39-24-5-0) Friday night by a final score of 4-1 in front of 8,114 fans at Toyota Arena. The Reign will play the Firebirds in Palm Desert Saturday night at 6 p.m. PST.

Hampton Slukynsky recorded 21 saves on 22 shots in his professional debut as the Reign captured their 45^thwin of the season setting a single-season franchise record. Logan Brown scored his first goal of the season which came on the power-play midway through the first period. Francesco Pinelli and Kenta Isogai struck early into the second period in a span of 2:23 making it a 3-0 lead. With the victory Ontario stretched their point-streak on home ice to 12 games.

The Reign led 1-0 after the first period outshooting the Firebirds 19-8, a period season high in shots for. Logan Brown (1^st) scored on the power-play at 12:59 from Nikita Alexandrov and Cole Guttman as Ontario finished the frame 1-for-2 on the power-play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. From the right point Guttman sent a wrist shot towards the cage that got tipped by Alexandrov. The Brown was able muscle it free at the left side of the crease and bury it home.

Ontario held a 3-1 advantage through 40 minutes of work in a penalty free second period. Francesco Pinelli (13^th) struck just 1:44 into the stanza from Nikita Alexandrov and Jack Millar making it a 2-0 advantage. At the top of the right circle Pinelli dropped the puck back for Alexandrov. From there Alexandrov spun it back for Pinelli below the right circle where he cranked a one-timer into the top right corner. Kenta Isogai (3^rd) tripled the lead just 2:32 later from Koehn Ziemmer. Above the high slot Isogai dealt the puck to Ziemmer in the right circle In the high slot Ziemmer had it knocked off his stick but it found Isogai at the right side of the crease where he slipped it by Östman short-side over the glove. The Firebirds used their timeout immediately after falling behind 3-0 just 4:16 into the second period and Jakov Novak made it a two-score game sending a one-timer into the net off a pretty feed from Justin Janicke.

Francesco Pinelli (14^th) put the game away scoring an empty netter with 2:53 remaining in regulation for a 4-1 final score.

Hampton Slukynsky earned the win in his pro debut making 21 saves on 22 shots while Victor Östman suffered the loss allowing three goals on 34 shots. Ontario went 1-for-3 on the power-play while Coachella Valley was 0-for-1.

BOX SCORE

Postgame thoughts from Andrew Lord and Hampton Slukynsky.

Lord
On tonight’s win
Up until their first goal, I loved it. I thought we were elite. I thought to a man, the guys were terrific. The pace they played, at the execution, the second, the third efforts, the shot volume, the shot quality, the defending. It was awesome. It was really fun. We were really proud of the guys with after such a big win the other night against Colorado, sometimes, human nature can set in, and they just kept their foot on the on the gas.

On goaltender Hampton Slukynsky
The guy is incredible. Only a few practices with us. I thought he was elite. I thought, as good as we were that first, 28 minutes or so, we were pretty poor the second half of the second. They put us under siege, once they got that first one, that gave them a little bit of a jolt. He made some really good saves there. I thought we started the third slow too. I thought the first couple minutes until that penalty, they also had some jam play, some stuff around our net and he was excellent. He’s phenomenal.

On the Brown, Pinelli, Jamsen line
I thought all three were moving their feet. Jamsen obviously had that injury. He was flying before the injury and it took him a couple games to get back to it. I think he’s back at it now. I thought Brown had one of his better games, especially the first half there. Then Pinelli is a little bit of a Swiss army knife. Can do it all. So there’s some chemistry there. They get some matches as well. They really give us some unbelievable forward depth, where they can play well defensively, but also generate. They were snapping around. That was a big key to the win.

Slukynsky
On how he felt in tonight’s 60 minutes
It was unreal. It’s always been the dream to play pro hockey. So to be told I was playing tonight was really exciting. Had a lot of adrenaline going, and it was fun. The fans brought the energy, and the guys played really well in front of me and made it pretty easy on me. Just happy to help the team get the win.

On the biggest adjustment
I would just say the size of the players and the traffic. Coachella Valley did a good job of getting in front of me and my D did a good job of boxing out. They’re bigger and it’s hard to see around at times. It was a little bit of an adjustment, but it was good.