REIGN FINAL – Reign 2, Wranglers 1 – Portillo, Sturm

A third period goal by Charles Hudon sent the Ontario Reign (14-8-0-0) past the Calgary Wranglers (19-8-1-0) for their fourth straight win by a 2-1 score on Wednesday night at Toyota Arena.

Ontario has now won 10 of its last 12 games and three consecutive decisions in Ontario. The Reign held Calgary, the first place team in the Pacific Division, to just 14 shots on goal in the victory which included 13 saves by goaltender Erik Portillo.

BOX SCORE

Shawn Element scored the first tally of the contest for Ontario, finding the back of the net for the second consecutive game to even the score at 1-1. Element’s sixth strike of the season came late in the second at 18:31 and was set up by Jacob Doty, who laid the puck on the attacker’s stick for a clean look at the net from the left circle. Tyler Madden also picked up the second assist on the play, his ninth helper of the season.

The equalizer sent the Reign into the second intermission even with Calgary after surrendering a power play goal earlier in the frame to Sam Morton at 6:22.

Through two periods, Ontario held a 26-8 edge in shots on goal after out-shooting Calgary 12-4 in the opening frame. At the final buzzer, the Reign had 38 chances on net, 36 of which were stopped by Devin Cooley.

Hudon’s game-winner was the lone tally of the third period, coming off a partial 2-on-1 in the Calgary zone. The veteran attacker unleashed a quick strike over the glove of Cooley to the top right corner of the Calgary net to put Ontario ahead for good. A lone assist was credited on the goal to Hudon’s linemate, Jeff Malott, who now leads the Reign with 17 helpers on the season.

The Wranglers converted on their lone power play chance of the game and held Ontario off the board on the man-advantage during three chances.

Postgame reactions from Portillo and head coach Marco Sturm are below –

Erik Portillo
On winning four consecutive games
The whole team, I think we get something from everybody, which is huge. As a group, I think everyone contributes to these wins. All the guys are just pulling together in the right direction.

On playing in back-to-back games
It’s always my goal is to play as much hockey as possible. To come here and play and get the win for the team, and we do it together. That’s great.

On having steady D in front of him
It’s so important, you know, it’s a team sport, and we have to help each other out back there. Especially goalie and D, it’s such an important relationship. To be able to keep it kind of consistent is huge for me.

On not facing many shots in the win
I think everyone kind of knows that it’s very hard when you have few shots and not very much to do. Then when there’s a chance against a good team like Calgary, it’s hard. But you have to stay focused and stay engaged. That’s all you can do.

Marco Sturm
On going into tonight’s game
I told them for us, it’s going to be a playoff game. We want to play the right way and it’s a big boys game tonight. We know Calgary, the way they draft, the way they put the roster together. It’s always pretty much the same. You know what to expect, a straightforward, hardworking, forechecking team and they have a pretty good goalie. He made us work tonight, that’s for sure.

On Charles Hudon
He was good. I played his line against the Kerins line and they’ve been by far the best line in the league points wise. They didn’t get anything today. I give Gawdin, Malott, and Hudon a lot of credit.

On playing Portillo 
He’s been getting better and better every week. He was away and now he has to get his feet wet again with us. We just wanted to get him in a little rhythm. We decided to go with Ports because we wanted to get him going and he did well.

This weekend Ontario will play its final two games before the league’s holiday break with a back-to-back series against Coachella Valley. The series will begin in Palm Desert at Acrisure Arena on Friday night at 7 p.m. and conclude with the Reign’s annual Teddy Bear Toss night on Saturday inside Toyota Arena at 6 p.m.