Six different goal scorers sent the Ontario Reign (22-13-1-1) past the Calgary Wranglers (27-12-1-0) on Tuesday night at Toyota Arena by a 6-1 score, a decisive win against the team with the top points percentage in the AHL.
Four Ontario skaters had multi-point efforts in the victory, with Tyler Madden, Andre Lee, and Francesco Pinelli each netting a goal and an assist, while Caleb Jones posted two helpers. Goaltender Pheonix Copley stopped 19 shots to earn the win between the pipes.
David Silye opened the scoring for the Wranglers at 16:35 of the first, converting on a breakaway opportunity to make it a 1-0. However, it was the lone shot of the contest that found its way past Copley.
The Reign responded in the final minute of the opening frame when Charles Hudon scored his 14th tally of the season on the power play with a shot from the left circle to even the score at 1-1. Assists on the strike came from Glenn Gawdin and Reilly Walsh.
Ontario took over the game in the middle frame, equaling their season high with four goals in the period while out-shooting Calgary 18-9. Lee got the scoring started by scoring for the second straight game on a rebound off a shot by Tyler Madden at 1:42. Lee’s third AHL goal of the season was the Reign’s second power play goal of the game and also had a second assist credited to Jones.
Taylor Ward extended the lead to 3-1 at 3:55, also scored for the second straight game on a play started by Lee, who pressured the Wranglers into a turnover in their own zone. Ward followed up the play, grabbed the puck and roofed it into the top portion of the net past goaltender Connor Murphy for his fifth tally of the season.
Later in the frame, Madden got in on the scoring with his sixth of the year at 13:56 off a feed by Jack Studnicka. The goal also came on a shot up high that went past Murphy’s right shoulder and had a second helper credited to Jack Millar, making it a 4-1 game.
Pinelli capped off the scoring in the second period with a shorthanded strike at 17:12. The attacker stole the puck at his own blueline and moved in alone on the Calgary net, making a quick move before burying a shot to make it 5-1 with his 10th goal of the year.
Samuel Fagemo added on to the Reign’s advantage at 7:31 of the third with his league-leading 21st tally of the season, the lone strike of the final period. The goal came off a rebound at the side of the Wranglers net, with assists going to Pinelli and Jones.
Ontario ended with a 33-20 edge in shots on goal during the contest and won the special teams battle, going 2-for-4 on the power play and holding Calgary to an 0-for-4 mark on their man-advantage.
Murphy played the first 40 minutes in between the pipes for the Wranglers, making 21 saves before being replaced by Waltteri Ignatjew for the third who finished with six sves in the final stanza.
Postgame reactions from Madden and head coach Marco Sturm are below –
Tyler Madden
On the team’s energy tonight
The last couple of games, we’ve shown glimpses of it, but tonight was a full 60. That’s the game we want to play, and that’s the game we played in the past. We just got to get back to it, and that’s what we did tonight.
On his line’s momentum
I mean, that’s our job basically as a fourth line, just to build momentum and when we do get those shifts, make it worth it. We got a lot more near the end of the game, second, third period but we did what we could with it.
On the power play’s success
It was just getting pucks back and putting pucks on that. That’s a big thing with us, is that we want to be able to shoot. We want to get pucks back to be able to create chances, and that’s what we did.
On the play of Copley
He’s a great goalie. I mean, he plays good every night in my mind. We’ve let him out to dry a little bit in the last couple of games. When we play good in front of him, we know he’s going to be a brick wall back there. He showed it tonight.
Marco Sturm
On his team’s performance in the win
We talked about a few things this morning, the guys stuck with it and they translated it to the game. It was probably a little bit of a slow start, but in general, it’s always tough back to back. Yesterday, the guys were off. So I think guys just needed a little bit of time to get it going. As long as we don’t give anything up and I also thought Cops gave us a comfort and also a good PK. A lot of reasons why we had success today, but that was one.
On the special teams play
Special teams today were really good. The power play got us a few goals. I liked our puck speed. We were ahead of them. Also, on the PK I think we had a little bit more jump. We were a little bit ahead of them. Overall, we were quicker on pucks and battles then Cops did the rest.
On Andre Lee’s play
It took him a while too. It’s not like he played bad. It took him almost 10 games to get where we want him to be, him to play, and then also step it up. The last two games, I think he was just outstanding. The little details he has in his game, it shows why he played some games with the Kings. He’s not a big scorer, so I’m happy for him that he found the back of the net today.
The Reign are back in action on Friday night in Bakersfield against the Condors at Mechanics Bank Arena beginning at 7 p.m.
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