The Ontario Reign were shutout 3-0 by the Coachella Valley Firebirds in game one of Pacific Division Semifinals Wednesday night in front 3,274 fans at Toyota Arena. The best of five series will continue Friday at 7 p.m. PST from Ontario.
Nikke Kokko pitched a 23 save shutout for the Firebirds while J.R. Avon scored a pair of goals for the Firebirds including a power-play struck early into the second period giving Coachella Valley a 1-0 lead. The Reign went 0-for-2 on the power-play while Coachella Valley was 1-for-4.
The first period was scoreless as each team exchanged chances with Coachella Valley holding the slight edge in shots 13-12.
The Firebirds received their second power-play of the night 4:02 into the second period and 42 seconds into the man advantage J.R. Avon buried home a rebound at the side of the crease making it 1-0. The Reign were outshot 9-5 in the stanza as they went to the penalty box three times while the Firebirds were assessed two minor penalties.
Oskar Fisker Mølgaard doubled the lead 5:07 into the third period sending a wrist shot from the left circle into the top left corner. Then at 11:12 Avon grabbed his second of the game with another rebound score near the net. The Reign were outshot 11-6 in the final 20 minutes of play.
Nikke Kokko earned the shutout victory making 23 saves while Erik Portillo suffered the loss allowing three goals on 33 shots. Ontario was 0-for-2 on the power-play while Coachella Valley went 1-for-4.
Postgame thoughts from Andrew Lord and Andre Lee.
Lord
On tonight’s loss
Not ourselves, by any stretch, I thought they were extremely good. Give them credit. Right out of the gates we were a little sloppy the first five. I thought we got it together as the first period went along, hit a couple posts, couple close calls, we just couldn’t find one to really get us going. I thought the second was obviously penalty filled, and just not really a lot of flow. It was just a real clunky period. Give them credit. They closed the game out really efficiently with short shifts and a lot of pucks deep, and they stayed on the grind to find that third one which was impressive for them. We’ll be better. As much as we battle and do everything we can to stay sharp through the long break, I think it was obvious we weren’t quite ourselves after a long break, which is unfortunate.
On the Firebirds’ lineup
Well, it’s an entirely different team, right? I mean, you look at the roster, it’s not even really comparable. Obviously, they got a bunch of guys down, Seattle is out, and there’s a number of players back in the lineup. So it’s just a completely different roster. It’s the roster that we expected to see this time of year. They’re really good.
Lee
On the game one loss
I thought the guys came out good. A lot of physicality. What we expected. Think Coachella got some bounces with them. We couldn’t get that much going offensively, but game one, there’s another game in 48 hours, and we’re going to a get good recovery and get back at it.
On not getting a lot of pucks to the net in the last two periods
I think they did a good job of blocking shots. I think at times we passed the puck maybe one too many times. In these tight series, series like this, you have to maybe throw one in and get the bodies to the net and then whack one in that way. So we got some video to look over and we’ll bring it to the next game.
Rules for Blog Commenting
Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.
Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.