The Ontario Reign (41-18-5-4) fired 44 shots at goaltender Jiri Patera in their regular season finale on Saturday night at the Dollar Loan Center but were unable to solve the netminder in a 4-0 shutout loss to the Henderson Silver Knights (35-28-4-1).
Reign goaltender Matt Villalta stopped 27 shots in a losing effort. While Ontario’s power play was unable to score Saturday, ending at 0-for-3, the Reign completed their 68-game regular season with the best man-advantage percentage in AHL league history at 27.48%. Ontario will open its postseason on Wednesday night against the San Diego Gulls with Game 1 of the first-round series at Toyota Arena.
More from Reign Assistant Coach Chris Hajt and forward Alex Turcotte below –
The Reign out-shot and out-chanced the Silver Knights in both the first and second periods, racking up 36 shots in the first 40 minutes, but came up empty on the scoreboard and fell behind in the game. Patera stopped 17 shots in the first frame and another 19 in the second stanza, allowing Henderson to get out in front. The netminder’s save total was the second-most of his AHL career.
Gage Quinney netted the lone goal of the opening period for Henderson when he fired a wrist shot past Matt Villalta at 11:45 off a turnover by Ontario to make it 1-0 in favor of the home team. The tally came less than a minute after Villalta turned aside a penalty shot that was awarded to Silver Knights’ forward Sven Baertschi, Villalta’s second penalty shot stop in three after turning out a chance by Colorado’s Martin Kaut last Friday night.
The Silver Knights extended their lead in the second on a goal by Paul Cotter who deflected a shot into the Reign cage at 8:57 to make it 2-0.
Henderson added insurance at 11:14 of the third on a goal by Baertschi which came on the power play and made it 3-0.
In the final minutes of the contest, Connor Corcoran added to the lead for the Silver Knights with a goal at 16:14 of the third period.
Henderson finished the game 1-for-2 on the power play while being outshot by Ontario 44-31. The Reign ended the regular season with a 6-2-0 record in eight games against the Silver Knights.
Chris Hajt
On his takeaways from tonight’s game
We had a long week and a few days off. The guys recharged and did what they needed to do and I thought that we came out very well. As a team, we played well and did the things we wanted to do and the things we worked on this week to get ready for playoffs. We weren’t able to score, and their goaltender played well, and their team played well. Obviously, we would’ve liked to have won the game but excited that now we get to go to playoffs, so we’re looking forward to Wednesday.
On sticking to the gameplan despite trailing on the scoreboard
The guys were positive on the bench. There were opportunities but they just didn’t go in. Their goalie played excellent, and they made so really good blocks and defensive plays. That’s the thing, you’ve got to stay with your gameplan and what you’re doing right and don’t get discouraged. Tonight we felt that we did that. It obviously didn’t go but in the playoffs that’s something that can happen. You have to find ways to get it done, but again, there were a lot of good habits and things to take away moving forward.
On Alex Turcotte’s return to the lineup
It was nice having him and Helge [Grans] back. Obviously Turcotte has been out a little longer than Helge, but he played excellent. He did a lot of really good things and got some of the rust off. Turc made a lot of in-tight plays. He’s a competitor and creates scoring chances around the net, so it was a good first game back for him. I’m sure he felt tired by the end but I’m sure he felt great playing in the game too.
On the Reign power play setting the AHL record
That’s impressive. I’m very proud of our players. We all are. Everyone has contributed to it and I’m happy for them. They take great pride in what they do, and they’ve been difference makers for us all year, so we’re looking forward to continued success with it in the playoffs. It’s a great achievement for a group of guys who were obviously able to put the puck in the net an awful lot, so good on them.
On T.J. Tynan, Martin Frk, and Jordan Spence receiving league honors this week
Anytime you have team success, there’s individual success too. All three of them have been a big part of our team. Tynan has just played fantastic and drives so much of our play. Frk has been able to change the course of a game with just one shot and he’s done a lot of really good things along the wall defensively. Jordan, when he was here, played excellent. Great honors for them and we’re all really proud of them. It’s a neat thing when you’re with the group and find out [the news] and able to pass it on. Everyone had big smiles for them, and they deserved it.
Alex Turcotte
On playing in his first game since February
I felt pretty good. I was really excited to play. It’s been almost three months since my last game so it was great to be back out there with the guys. Obviously it was a tough loss but I thought I felt good and made some good plays. I’ll use that moving forward and I think it’s going to help me a lot. It was good to get out there and take faceoffs and do all of the little things, like backcheck. You can’t really replicate that stuff in practice and when you’re going through rehab. I was really fortunate to get in this game before playoffs.
On his recovery and return to action
Honestly, I didn’t think it was possible. I wasn’t feeling good there for a long time but I took it one day at a time. I got the proper care that I needed and started feeling a lot better. Once we found the right place to go to, I felt good pretty fast, and that’s when it became a possibility. Then I started skating again. When I started feeling good I became a happy person and life felt good again.
On returning to the lineup as the playoffs start
It’s exciting. This is when you want to play. This is what we’ve been striving for the whole time, to get in to the playoffs and make a run for it. Obviously, we’ve had a tough last few games but I think everyone is really excited and we’re going to work out butts off once playoffs start.
On the team’s performance
I just felt like we’d have a couple chances and miss some, and the goalie made some pretty good saves. I was just telling [Samuel] Fagemo and [Vladimir] Tkachev to keep playing and keep having fun. You can’t get too frustrated. It’ll break [for us] eventually. It wasn’t today but at the end of it, it’s the last game of the season and we’re both in the playoffs. We really want to capitalize on those once the playoffs starts. That’s when it’s going to really mean something.
Ontario opens the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs with Game 1 of their first-round series against the San Diego Gulls on Wednesday night at Toyota Arena at 7 p.m. The series continues with Game 2 on Thursday at 7 and would conclude if necessary on Monday, May 9. All games of the series are slated to be played at Toyota Arena.
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