REIGN FINAL – Reign 4, Silver Knights 1 – Portillo, Sturm

The Ontario Reign (2-4-0-0) scored twice during a first period in which they piled up 18 shots on goal and went on to defeat the Henderson Silver Knights (2-6-0-0) by a final score of 4-1 on Friday night at Lee’s Family Forum.

Goaltender Erik Portillo stopped 34 of 35 shots to earn his first win of the season for Ontario, while four different scorers found the back of the net including Reilly Walsh, Shawn Element, Jacob Doty and Charles Hudon.

BOX SCORE

Ontario dominated play during the opening period, earning the first 14 shots on goal on its way to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Walsh put the Reign in front at 5:57 of the period with his first goal in an Ontario sweater on the power play from Hudon and Samuel Fagemo.

While the Reign had control of the play for the majority of the period, they weren’t able to add on to their lead until there were just 22 seconds remaining in the stanza. Ontario’s second goal came on a shot by Jack Millar from the right point that was redirected into the net by Shawn Element, who was standing at the top of the crease. Element’s second of the year gave Millar his first-career professional point.

The Silver Knights cut into their early deficit at 1:15 of the second when Mason Morelli scored a power play goal to make it a 2-1 game.

But Doty put the Reign back up by two goals with his first strike of the season at 9:07 of the second from Samuel Helenius and Cole Krygier.

Late in the second, things turned physical, with Jeff Malott dropping the gloves for a bout against Joe Fleming.

Both sides had multiple quality scoring chances during a fast-paced third period, but Henderson was unable to get any closer in the game as Portillo turned out all 15 of the attempts he faced in the final frame.

With the Silver Knights in desperation mode and their net empty in exchange for an extra attacker, Jeff Malott found Hudon open in the crease for a tap-in and his first goal of the 2024-25 year, which capped off the scoring. Glenn Gawdin also picked up a helper on the play after starting the rush out of his own end and finding an open Malott in the offensive zone.

Each club had one power play goal in the game, with Ontario finishing 1-for-4 and the Silver Knights ending at 1-for-6 on the man-advantage. Henderson netminder Akira Schmid stopped 34 shots for the Silver Knights in a losing effort.

Below, hear from Portillo and head coach Marco Sturm after the game  –

Erik Portillo

Marco Sturm

The Reign and Silver Knights are back at it Saturday night in Ontario for their third matchup in less than a week. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. inside Toyota Arena.