Akil Thomas scored twice and Jacob Ingham stopped 36 of 37 shots to give the Ontario Reign (20-11-3-1) their 20th win of the season with a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Wranglers (22-10-3-0) on Friday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
The win gave Ontario a split of their series in Calgary and improved their record against the first-place Wranglers to 2-1-1 in four contests this season. Ontario also won the special teams battle for the second consecutive evening, going 1-for-3 on the man-advantage while discarding all six of Calgary’s power play opportunities.
Thomas netted the first goal of the night by wristing the puck from the left circle on a rush into the zone. The biscuit glanced off goaltender Dustin Wolf and rolled past the goal line at 6:54 of the first period and Ontario had themselves an early lead. With the goal, Thomas extended his current point streak to a season-high five games.
The Wranglers evened the game at 1-1 on a goal by Clark Bishop before the opening period came to an end at 17:09, but it would be the only blemish to Ingham during an otherwise perfect effort.
Ontario spent lots of time on the penalty kill in the second as four minor infractions were called on the visitors during the middle period. During their fourth time shorthanded late in the frame, Calgary’s Ben Jones was hit with a hooking infraction. A short 4-on-4 ensued, before the Reign went to work on the power play.
That set the stage for Thomas, who took the lead back for the Reign by scoring his second of the game during the man-advantage with just 2.5 seconds left in the middle period. With time winding down, Charles Hudon fed the puck in deep to TJ Tynan on the goal line, who then hit Thomas in the slot for a quick release that glanced off the left post and behind Dustin Wolf to make it 2-1.
Ontario spent the majority of the third period in their own zone but got 15 saves from Ingham to hold on to the lead. The Reign also benefitted from numerous blocked shots that thwarted the Wranglers’ efforts to even the score. Two more successful penalty kills in the final frame also contributed to holding Calgary down late.
Wolf suffered the loss for Calgary, stopping 22 shots in the contest. The Reign remain in second place in the Pacific Division with 44 points in the standings.
Chris Hajt
On another impressive special teams showing
First of all, they’re a very good power play team. Calgary has two good units and we found a way to get it done. Obviously, Ingham played great and a good PK starts with your goaltending, and our goaltenders have been good all year, and tonight was no different. We had some really good clears and desperation blocking shots over the two games. They’re a high-volume shooting team and we were able to get in the lanes. Special teams overall in these two games was really good. We had some huge power play goals and obviously Akil [Thomas] got a huge one there in the second period and it really created momentum for our team. We don’t want to be shorthanded that many times but we were able to get it done.
On trying to match Calgary five-on-five
Calgary puts a lot of pressure on you five-on-five. They attack the net really well. They defend their net really well. They’re really strong in the areas along the wall, so we needed to really focus on that going into today. We were on our heels a little bit with taking so many penalties, and again, they’re very good at what they do. How do we prepare for it? You recognize how we can be better and just really bear down on those areas and making sure that we support each other, whether it’s on a breakout, on the forecheck, or have layers in the defensive zone. So it’s little things like that that you preach in order to have better results five-on-five.
On Akil Thomas’ strong run
Akil puts so much time and effort into how he plays and in his craft every day. His work ethic is second to none and it’s paying off for him in different ways, whether it’s on the penalty kill or faceoffs, or scoring the goals right now. Again, it’s because of his work and his details in his game, and it’s nice to see him be rewarded for it.
On Jacob Ingham’s performance and time with the team
First of all, he had lots of injuries. Coming back, he was one of the fittest guys in training camp. He had a great camp, went down [to the ECHL], worked out his game and had a great record down there, came up and stayed positive. It’s tough. Obviously, he’s leaned on family and friends for support, and his inner belief, and as a group we were excited for him after the game. Everyone was cheering for him and happy for him. He got the game puck for a reason. He’s able to rise above a lot of stuff that he’s gone through and he’s played really solid for us, so good for him.
Akil Thomas & Jacob Ingham
Ontario will complete its lengthy five-game road trip with a pair of matchups in Abbotsford against the Canucks, beginning Tuesday night at 7 p.m. inside the Abbotsford Centre.
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