Game 61: Reign 3, Bakersfield 1 + postgame notes/video

Ontario Reign 3, Bakersfield Condors 1
Final

Radio feed
Box score

SOG: ONT 25, BAK 25
PP: ONT 0/5, BAK 1/3

ONT starters: G Jack Campbell, D Vincent LoVerde, D Alex Lintuniemi, LW Michael Mersch, C T.J. Hensick, RW Teddy Purcell
BAK starters: G Jonas Gustavsson, D Griffin Reinhart, D Jordan Oesterle, LW Joey LaLeggia, C Anton Lander, RW Jesse Puljujarvi

FIRST PERIOD
No scoring

SECOND PERIOD
1) ONT – Alex Lintuniemi (2) (T.J. Hensick), 9:53
2) BAK PPG – Joey LaLeggia (19) (Jonas Gustavsson), 13:21

THIRD PERIOD
3) ONT – Brett Sutter (16) (Sean Backman), :54
4) ONT – Philippe Maillet (1) (Teddy Purcell, Vincent LoVerde), 16:54

POSTGAME NOTES

–With the win, the Reign are now 33-18-10-0 overall and 6-1-2-0 against Bakersfield, which dropped to 30-25-5-1. Ontario improved to 27-17-9-0 against Pacific Division opponents and 12-9-8-0 on the road. They also earned their first win in Bakersfield this season.

–The Reign’s magic number to reach the playoffs has shrunk to five with seven games remaining. They continue to sit at third in the Pacific behind San Jose and San Diego. The Reign’s number will shrink with their own wins and Stockton losses.

–Goalie Jack Campbell made 24 saves in his third straight start. His record improved to 29-13-6 and his 29 wins lead the AHL.

–With three straight wins, Ontario is now on its fourth winning streak of the season.

–Alex Lintuniemi opened the scoring with his 2nd goal of the season and now has a goal and two assists in the last three games.

–T.J. Hensick assisted on Lintuniemi’s goal and now has two goals and six assists in the last eight games.

–Both defenseman Matt Roy and forward Philippe Mailett made their AHL debuts. Roy, a seventh round pick by the Kings in 2015, finished a plus-one with no shots on goal. Mailett scored in his debut, finished a plus-one, with a game-high five shots on goal and two PIMs.

–Brett Sutter was credited with his fifth game-winner of the season, which ties Jonny Brodzinski. The goal was his 16th of the season.

–Ontario improved to 24-5-5-0 when scoring first and 5-4-4-0 when tied after two periods.

–This was the first two-goal game of the season between the teams as each of the eight previous were one-goal games.

–The teams finished deadlocked for 25 shots on goal each. Ontario was led by Maillet’s game-high five shots on goal.

VIDEO

PREGAME NOTES

–Defenseman Matt Roy and forward Philippe Maillet will be making their Reign debuts tonight.

–Tonight’s scratches for Ontario: F Patrick Bjorkstrand, D Rob Scuderi, D Kurtis MacDermid, F Devin Setoguchi, F Justin Auger, F Daniel Ciampini, D Craig Wyszomirski and D Zach Trotman.

–The Reign are 5-1-2-0 against Bakersfield this season but have not won a road game against the Condors, going 0-1-2-0. Five of the eight meetings between the two teams this season have been decided by a 3-2 score and all eight have been one-goal games. All time, the Reign are 13-5-2-0 against the Condors and 4-3-2-0 in Bakersfield.

–The Reign’s magic number to clinch a playoff berth is seven points. The number is reduced with points earned or teams outside the playoff picture failing to earn standings points.

–Forwards Brett Sutter (three goals, three assists) and Teddy Purcell (two goals, four assists) lead the Reign in the series with six points.

–Reign center T.J. Hensick (15 goals, 34 assists) is one point away from notching 50 this season. He also has seven points (two goals, five assists) over his last seven games.

–Condors forward Joey LaLeggia has three goals and three assists in his last five games. LaLeggia scored the overtime game-winner the last time the two teams met, a 3-2 Reign loss in Bakersfield on March 10. That resulted in a frustrated Mike Stothers telling this to ORI after the game via text: “Took the first three penalties of the game and watched the smallest guy on their team score the game winning goal on his eighth shot of the game.”