REIGN FINAL – Reign 2, Stars 5 – Ingham, Sturm

After falling behind in the first period, an Ontario Reign (34-20-3-1) comeback attempt came up short Tuesday night, falling to the Texas Stars (35-19-3-0) by a final score of 5-2 at the H-E-B Center.

Both of Ontario’s goals came from Charles Hudon, who netted his 200th career AHL goal in a losing effort. Jacob Ingham entered the Reign crease in relief and stopped all 11 shots he faced before the Stars scored two empty-net goals in the final 90 seconds of action.

BOX SCORE

Texas was able to seize the lead with three goals in a seven-minute span near the end of the opening period and entered the first intermission with a 3-0 advantage on the scoreboard.

The Stars struck first on the power play at 13:01 when Matěj Blümel was left open for a shot from the top of the right circle that got past Pheonix Copley. Four minutes later, Jack Becker capitalized on a turnover to score against his former team, making it 2-0 at 17:47. Texas tacked on a third goal before the period ended when Kyle Looft put a loose rebound into the net with 16 seconds remaining on the clock.

Ontario started the second with Ingham in between the pipes and changed the momentum of the game when Hudon got behind the defense and roofed a shot just under the crossbar 1:51 into the middle frame that was confirmed to be a goal by video review. Assists on the play were credited to Martin Chromiak and Reilly Walsh.

Hudon’s second goal came during a power play at 7:55 of the second and cut Texas’ lead to 3-2. With the puck pinned into the Stars’ zone for most of the two-minute advantage, Hudon let a shot go from just inside the blue line that made its way through traffic and past netminder Remi Poirier. Caleb Jones and Glenn Gawdin each earned helpers on the goal, which had Ontario back within one.

The Reign continued searching for an equalizer for the remainder of the game, but they couldn’t get any of their other opportunities by Poirier. After being out-shot 15-5 in the first, Ontario rebounded to out-chance Texas 21-4 in the second.

One of the best looks to get even came in the final moments when Joe Cecconi sent a wrist shot toward the Stars’ goal that hit the post behind Poirier and stayed out of the net. Not long after the chance, Texas was able to capitalized on the Reign pulling Ingham for an extra attacker with empty-net goals by Justin Hryckowian at 18:27 and Blümel at 19:30.

Each team had one of their goals come on the power play, with Ontario finishing 1-for-3 on the man-advantage while the Stars were 1-for-2. The Reign held a 35-28 edge in shots on goal overall during the contest.

Poirier finished with 33 saves to earn the win for the home team, while Copley suffered the loss after stopping 12 shots during his 20 minutes of action.

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

Jacob Ingham

Marco Sturm

The two teams are scheduled for a rematch on Wednesday night in Cedar Park, with puck drop scheduled for 5 p.m. PT inside the H-E-B Center.