The Ontario Reign (21-14-3-1) came up short on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Arena, falling to the Bakersfield Condors (18-11-1-2) by a final score of 6-2.
Hayden Hodgson scored the opening goal of the contest for Ontario and Alex Turcotte added his seventh tally of the season in the second which kept the Reign in the game, but the Condors took control of the contest with four goals in the third period.
Former Reign netminder Jack Campbell got the start for Bakersfield and stopped 27 shots to earn the victory for the Condors, while Jacob Ingham suffered the loss for Ontario despite turning out 25 opportunities.
Ontario went in front just 2:03 into the first when a shot by Akil Thomas snuck through the body of Campbell. The puck was rolling toward the goal line and Hodgson made sure it made its way to the back of the net, knocking in his second goal of the year. Andre Lee also picked up a second assist on the play.
Bakersfield turned things around late in the opening period, scoring twice in the final five minutes to take the lead before the first intermission. First, Carter Savoie got open for a rush down the ice at the Reign net on the left wing and beat Ingham with a shot up high to even the game at 15:14. Then Matvey Petrov put the Condors on top 2-1 with a power play goal on Bakersfield’s second man-advantage of the game at 17:42.
Turcotte evened the game back up for Ontario with the lone goal of the second at 7:11, tapping in a net-front pass by Taylor Ward after Tyler Madden helped create a turnover in Bakersfield’s end.
But the Condors controlled the third period with four goals during the final frame, three of which came via the power play. Drake Caggiula put Bakersfield in front for good at 1:19 of the final frame and also scored the team’s fifth goal of the night at 15:15 for his second tally.
Seth Griffith and Xavier Bourgault also got on the board for the Condors with power play goals at 5:25 and 19:12, respectively.
Bakersfield finished 4-for-6 on the man-advantage, while Ontario was 0-for-4 on their chances, which included a 5-on-3 for 1:24 during the second period.
Marco Sturm
The Reign head back on the road next weekend for a two-game series in Tucson against the Roadrunners that begins Friday night at 6 p.m. PT
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