Goaltender Carl Lindbom stopped all 25 shots he faced, and Jonas Rondbjerg scored on the power play five minutes into the third period, giving the Henderson Silver Knights (10-25-2-0) a 1-0 win over the Ontario Reign (21-13-0-1) at Toyota Arena on Saturday night.
Reign netminder Pheonix Copley turned out 21 shots for the home side in a losing effort, with Ontario allowing just six shots on goal during the third as they attempted to solve Lindbom and get even in the contest.
Neither team was able to get on the board during the first 40 minutes of action, which featured three power play opportunities for both clubs.
Copley made his best save of the game during the first, when the Silver Knights had a quick passing play to get the puck to Cal Burke who was open on the left wing with a lot of net to shoot at. But Ontario’s netminder got over quickly to take the space away and stop the chance, keeping the game scoreless.
The Silver Knights also had a great look in the middle frame when Brendan Brisson was open in front of the crease, but his bid hit the post behind Copley and the contest remained 0-0.
Early in the third, Ontario’s Taylor Ward also came inches away from giving the Reign a lead, but his wrister from the top of the right circle hit the same post that Brisson’s look went off of the period prior.
Rondbjerg’s goal came moments later, after a penalty to Jack Studnicka for tripping at 4:47. The Silver Knights converted just 13 seconds into their fourth man-advantage opportunity of the game to take a 1-0 lead.
Ontario had opportunities later in the final frame, including a deflection by Francesco Pinelli off a shot by Angus Booth that rolled through the legs of Lindbom, but then went through the crease and away from the goal line.
It was the third time the Reign have been shut out by a goaltender this season, all of which have come at home in Ontario. Henderson went 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Reign finished 0-for-3.
Postgame reactions from defender Reilly Walsh and head coach Marco Sturm are below –
Reilly Walsh
On the team’s defense in the loss
I think today, especially, I thought we did a good job of playing with our numbers. That was a big focus this week, out numbering them in the corners and off the rush. Not giving them time and space. I thought we did a better job of that tonight. I actually felt that we played really well defensively, giving up one goal. You know, that’s pretty good, but obviously we want better results.
On not producing offensively
I think they did a really good job of keeping us to the outside and blocking a lot of shots. There were a lot of pucks laying around, and sometimes you get those whacks, sometimes you don’t. Tonight was one of those nights where we were getting stuff to the net, but they did a good job of playing defense, and sometimes they just don’t go in.
On the play of Copley
Both of our goalies can be the best players on our team any night of the week and we have two really good goalies. After last weekend, everyone really wanted to have a good showing. I thought Cops was excellent tonight. He made a couple ridiculous saves that kept us close in it. I think we have the best goalie tandem in the league by far.
Marco Sturm
On the loss and his team getting shut out
Anytime you lose a game one nothing, you miss a goal. I think we were pressing it. We knew going into the third the little details will matter. Unfortunately, we took a bad penalty and had a mistake on the PK then all of a sudden we’re down one nothing. We tried on the end. Not just hockey, I think sports are funny sometimes when things are not going well. In the past, those pucks maybe land on our sticks, just like tonight, and went in but tonight they didn’t. That’s something we have to get better at and that’s something we have to collectively as a group come out of.
On his group now losing 3 games in a row
I said to the group, a season in any sport, it’s never going to be perfect for 72 games in our league. You’re always going to have bumps on the road and we’ve just got to try to find a way to get out of it. We’re only going to do it as a collective group. Guys tried hard tonight. I think stuff we pointed out, we did a little bit better, but we just have to be a little bit smarter.
On being held off the scoreboard
I think Cops did an excellent job keep us in the game early. Tonight, I thought it was more the special teams than anything else. Power play didn’t give us the momentum we wanted. Forget about the goal, but just giving us a little bit of life. PK obviously got scored on. I didn’t like that. We took way too many penalties again. I think that’s something that’s been going on for a bit. Penalties and special teams, we have to somehow create a little bit of momentum out of those situations
Ontario will go up against the Calgary Wranglers for the second time this season on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Arena, beginning at 3 p.m. It’s the second contest of the Reign’s First Responders Weekend, where they are collecting donations for organizations in need in the Los Angeles area.
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